


The Alliance

by WhitethornWolf



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-11-18 06:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 28,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11285910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhitethornWolf/pseuds/WhitethornWolf
Summary: You think being a teenager is bad? Imagine you’re a teenager in the middle of a galactic war. Now imagine you have a totally cool power to change into animals, but you have to use it to fight an alien invasion nobody else knows about.Hi, I'm Courtney. Welcome to my life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> \- I suggest reading the prequel 'My Name Is'.
> 
> \- I've brought the timeline forward to the 21st century, so you could call this a bit of an AU.

**COURTNEY**

 

When I was really little I used to watch reruns of this TV show called _I Was A Sixth Grade Alien_. I remember thinking would be so cool to have an alien as a friend.

I guess I was lonely back then. Why else would I find it easier to daydream an alien would be a better friend than another human being?

Fast forward a couple years and I’m practically living my childhood daydream, and like most daydreams it’s not _exactly_ how I pictured it.

My alien friend is purple and blue, but she’s not going to fit in at my school any time soon. She keeps out of sight, because ‘they’ are tracking her. Whoever ‘they’ was, she’s pretty vague on the details.

On a lot of details, actually.

Her name was Esthra, or at least, that’s the part of some long-winded name that I picked up on. She was from a species called Andalites. She had the power to change shape. That’s about all I knew.

I met her in the forest two weeks ago. After I stopped freaking out I took her to a gross old shack about ten minutes away from my house. I heard rumors about an old guy living there not long ago, but I guess he left or someone took him into care. It was abandoned and had been for months, so I was pretty sure no-one would come around to visit. And if they did, she could just turn into a human.

Tim and Pleskit have nothing on us.

I thought once about asking her how she can change into a human being, but I didn’t know if she would tell me the truth. Funny thing is, I would have been content to mind my own business -- until the night before I was due to meet up with her.

On TV that night there was a news story about a plane that totaled a Ralphs. The news anchor called it an experimental military aircraft, which made sense, I guess. And then they had showed one of those police drawings of someone they were looking for. Someone who had been seen leaving the crash site, and who would ‘help them with their inquiries’, whatever that meant.

The sketch was pretty accurate -- or accurate enough that I recognized her right away.

Esthra’s human form. The woman I saw her change from into a purple, centaur-like alien.

I sat up. Said some words in front of my parents that I really, _really_ should not say in front of my parents. Got a lecture and sent upstairs after dinner, like I was five or something.

The next day I went to school and had to pretend like nothing happened, but I was so spaced out I messed up in Spanish class and got a lecture from my favorite teacher, Mr Muñoz. Embarrassing I guess, but better than after-school detention.

By the time school got out I was mad and distracted and I didn’t feel like meeting up with Esthra at her hiding place. But she had asked me to get her some computer parts from Best Buy, so I went anyway.

I knocked on the door of the shack and heard a clatter that sounded like her trying to hide something.

“It’s me,” I called out. “Your friendly neighborhood human. I come bearing gifts.”

The door opened inwards and I slid inside.

<What is a neighborhood?> Esthra asked as I closed the door.

That caught me off guard. “You don’t have any neighborhoods on your planet?”

<If I knew what it was, perhaps.>

The shack was a lot tidier than the last time I’d been inside. Most of the garbage and leaf litter was gone, and the broken beer bottles had been swept up.

“Nice place you got here,” I said, and held up the plastic bag I was carrying. “I got what you asked for.”

<Excellent! These components are just what I need.>

There was a weird-looking device sitting on top of a rickety old bench on the far wall. A little bundle of tools sat to one side, along with a bunch of twisted metal and some fraying wires.

“What are you working on?” I asked.

She hesitated, like I’d seen her do when she didn’t really want to tell me the truth.

<It is a relay, of sorts, so I can make contact with my people. I would explain the specifics, but you would likely not understand.>

“Ah, of course not. Me being a primitive human and all.”

Esthra might have been a little behind on humor, but she definitely caught the sarcasm in my tone. She began to unpack the wires and electronic parts from the bag. Her face was turned away, but one stalk eye pointed back at me questioningly.

I swallowed my sudden anxiety.

 _Just say it,_ I told myself. _Get it over with._

“There was something on the news last night.”

<Yes?>

“Uh-huh. Someone crashed a plane into a Ralphs. Completely wrecked it. They’re calling it an experimental aircraft of some kind.”

Esthra paused in the middle of attaching a wire to the back of the transponder. Another stalk eye turned my way.

“Funny thing is,” I added, “the police released a picture of someone who they’re looking for, and it looks exactly like you. Well, human you, anyway.”

Silence.

“You know, maybe I’m a dumb human for not questioning where you actually came from,” I said casually, “but I didn’t think it was from stealing and CRASHING a freaking Army plane!”

<You are angry.>

“Gee, you think?!”

Esthra paused, her shoulders dropping. Then she went back to fixing the wires to her relay.

<Please keep your voice down,> she said calmly.

“Or what?” I said furiously. “You’ll make me?”

<Don’t be absurd. I have no intention of causing you harm.>

I laughed. “No, you just want to use me. You want me to help you, but you won’t even tell me what you’re doing.”

She said nothing. I knew I probably should have shut up, but I went on anyway.

“I spent a month’s allowance on those parts, by the way, not that you care.”

Esthra picked up a pair of pliers and continued to mess with the transponder. I knew she was probably giving me time to calm down, but her silence only made me madder.

“And you know what?” I said harshly. “You still won’t tell me how you got here or what kind of danger you’re in. Which, by the way, I’m now in. Thanks to you.”

Esthra slammed the pliers down on the bench and turned around. That shut me up pretty fast. It was the first time I’d seen her come close to losing her temper.

She advanced on me, quickly at first, then she must have seen me flinch. She stopped, lowered her tail until it touched the ground, and sighed. For a moment I saw that same look on her face that I’d seen when I first met her. Like a scared little girl.

Like me.

<I have kept things from you because the less you know the less danger you are in,> she said in a tight, controlled voice. <I did not come here to play games with humans. The creatures I am hiding from are powerful, cunning and utterly ruthless. Your youth would not save you.>

I felt like pointing out she didn’t seem that much older than me, but that would have been petty. Instead I said, “You know what? I get you not wanting to deal with an ‘inferior’ species, or whatever. But it’s okay to be afraid and it’s not weak to admit when you need help.”

Esthra said nothing, but her expression softened.

“If these other aliens are that powerful,” I added, “then you can’t do it by yourself.”

<Two people will not make much of a difference, either.>

“But it’s better than one.” I crossed my arms. “And if you want my help, you’ll tell me what’s going on. All of it.”

<I cannot do that,> she replied steadily.

“Then I’m sorry, but you’re on your own.”

I turned and left.

To be honest, I regretted it the moment the door slammed behind me. I even felt bad. I hadn’t been raised to put conditions on helping someone out of a bind; it wasn’t the sort of thing a decent person did.

Even though I was the one walking away, part of me wished she would chase after me. But the shack door stayed closed, and a few seconds later I began to hear the faint sounds of Dad’s tools clinking.

So, that was that.


	2. Chapter 2

**JAKE**

 

My name is Jake. Just Jake.

Okay, I _do_ have a last name. I just can’t tell you what it is. If I told you my last name or the town I live in, then it might be the last thing I do.

Why? Because Earth is under attack.

Not from a foreign army or whatever. No world war, no guns, no atomic bombs. It’s an alien invasion we’re fighting against.

The Yeerks are our enemy now. They’re slug-like parasites. They enter your head through the ear canal. They wrap themselves around your brain and control you.

Your eyes see what they want you to see. Your limbs move how they want them to move. Your mouth forms words you never say. And you're a prisoner in your own body, for as long as you're live. As long as you’re useful.

It's a terrible fate -- and we don't know how many humans have already been taken. Enslaved like the Hork-Bajir. The Taxxons. The Gedd.

And one Andalite. Just one.

They could be anyone. Teachers, doctors, police. Parents. Kids like me.

But there is a small resistance. A handful of kids who one day, walked through an abandoned construction site on their way home...and in that construction site, their lives were changed forever.

I am one of them. The others are my best friend Marco, my cousin Rachel, her best friend Cassie and a new kid in school, Tobias. It was in that construction site that we met a dying alien; an Andalite called Elfangor. He told us of the Yeerks' invasion and gave us the technology of his people – the power to morph.

The power to change. The power to become any animal whose DNA we acquire. From birds to bugs. From horses to humans.

Elfangor was murdered by a Yeerk called Visser Three, but his memory lives on. In us, and his little brother Aximili, who we rescued not long after.

We call him Ax.

We might be the only resistance on Earth, but we're still kids. We go to school, hang out with friends, live a normal life. I've come to appreciate it since, you know, I started fighting aliens in my spare time.

 

"How was school, Jake?"

It was dinnertime at my house. Me, my parents, my brother Tom. Some kind of meatloaf; whatever it was, I didn't care. I was starving.

"Good," I mumbled through a mouthful of ground beef. "You know. The usual."

"That's good. Tom, turn the TV off."

My mom is a writer. She hates having the TV on when it's dinnertime.

"Hang on a sec, Mom. I’m watching something."

Remember when I said the Yeerks could be kids like me?

My brother is a Controller. A person enslaved by a Yeerk. It's hard to see him every day and know that his every movement is from an alien controlling his body. Impossible to forget that my own brother is now my enemy.

So, naturally, I was interested in why he suddenly wanted to watch the news.

“What’s so good about the news?” my dad said with a grin. “Thought you didn’t care about anything but the sports channel.”

“Is it for school?” my mom asked.

“Shh, I just want to see this. Hang on.”

The TV screen showed an anchorman speaking rapidly.

_‘"...what seemed to be a ship of unidentified design that crashed into a local grocery store..."_

The food in my mouth suddenly tasted like cardboard.

_"...nearby residents described blue and white lights in the sky approximately an hour before..."_

The screen changed to some footage of a building. Half the wall was covered in plastic sheeting, and people were hanging around everywhere.

_“…now revealed as experimental military aircraft…”_

I relaxed a little.

A ship _had_ crashed into a Ralphs just two weeks ago. A Yeerk ship. We had gone to check it out. It ended up a disaster involving something called a _Sario_ rip and some interesting experiences in the Amazon.

Yeah. Don’t ask. Important thing is, we got back okay. We haven’t been near the ship since.

_“…police now looking for a young woman who may have been connected to the crash…”_

A police drawing of a dark-haired woman flashed up on the screen. She didn’t look too much older than Tom, maybe about twenty or twenty-one.

That got my interest.

The screen switched to some other news story and silence fell. Tom stared at the TV intently. The silence became uncomfortable, so I forced a laugh.

“That’s it? You wanted to watch a story about some fake UFO?”

Tom turned towards me, and the expression on his face almost made me lose my smile.

“Shut. Up.”

I had a sudden, fierce to desire to provoke him, to make the Yeerk in his head lose control.

“What’s your problem?” I said, and sneered at him. “Are you peeved cause there’s no such thing as little green men from Mars?”

It was a stupid joke, but it worked. Tom’s face darkened and he rose from his seat.

“Boys!” my dad said sharply. “Sit down and eat your dinner.”

“I’m not hungry,” Tom muttered, pushing his plate away. He left the room, but not before giving me a look of pure hatred.

It was hard to see that expression on my brother’s face, especially directed at me. But I felt satisfied. I’d ticked the Yeerk off. It was a petty victory, but still a victory.

The rest of dinner was awkward to say the least. My parents talked about their day. I forced some jokes and small talk, but my mind was on other things.

I went to my room after and paced for about ten minutes. My mind was racing.

Ax told me once the Yeerks took over entire worlds by stealth, and they found Earth an easy target because most humans didn’t believe aliens existed. They covered up evidence and silenced those who knew of them, either by killing or making them Controllers. We thought that’s what the Yeerks were doing: getting rid of the evidence, making sure they controlled the news. I hadn’t stopped to consider _who_ might have crashed the Bug fighter.

Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe not. After what happened with the _Sario_ rip, I hadn’t wanted to get anywhere near the crash site. I had been scared of what could happen, and I let myself indulge in that fear instead of putting it aside.

Someone banged on my door, and I jumped about a foot in the air.

“What?!” I practically yelled.

“Phone for you. It’s Cassie.”

I opened the door. Tom was standing there, phone in one hand. The Yeerk was back to acting like nothing had happened.

“When are you gonna ask her out, midget?” he said, with a teasing grin. “Come on. I know she likes you --”

“Thanks!” I said and grabbed the phone, hoping desperately that Cassie hadn’t heard that. “Hello?”

 _“So, when_ are _you going to ask Cassie out?”_

Rachel’s voice blared from the receiver.

My ears started to burn. “Uh -- ”

“Give me that,” said a voice I knew was Cassie’s. “Hey, Jake.”

“Hey, um, what’s up?” I said casually, as if I wasn’t dying of embarrassment. “I was just about to call you.”

Rachel said something indistinct in the background. Something snide, probably.

“Not much,” Cassie replied. Her voice was perfectly normal, like she’d just called to say hi. “Rachel’s sleeping over. We’re just chilling. Watching the news.”

I knew Cassie would come to the same conclusion I had, but we couldn’t talk about it on the phone, of course. Especially not with Tom around.

I said, “Hey, um, did you get the history notes? The ones from two weeks ago?”

“Yeah, I have them,” Cassie said, and laughed a little. “You can come over tomorrow after school and pick them up, if you want.”

I paused for a second, made it sound like I was considering. “Yeah, I can do that. I’ll bring Marco. You know how bad his handwriting is.”

“Uh-huh. I’ll see you then.”

I hung up the phone, and it wasn’t long before Tom came back around.

“Where’s the phone, midget?” he said.

 _Calling your friends, Yeerk?_ I wanted to say. But that would have been bad for me, so I just gave him the phone and he left.

I sighed.

Nobody would blame me for not wanting to check out the Bug fighter. The others didn’t remember what happened in the _Sario_ rip, but for them it never happened.

Only I remembered: the wrong choices I’d made. The danger I’d put my friends in. That I had technically died in the grip of one of Visser Three’s monster morphs.

Time travel is complicated stuff. Not exactly something I like thinking about.

“It can wait,” I said out loud.

This time I wouldn’t go rushing in blind. If the Yeerks were asking for help to find some woman, it meant -- whoever she was -- she was good at hiding.

Maybe it was a complete coincidence, but in the months since we began this fight I’d learned not to take any chances.

This time I wouldn’t make the same mistakes.


	3. Chapter 3

**COURTNEY**

 

I don’t even remember the walk back to my house, I think I was that distracted. I went straight up to my room, sprawled on my bed, spread my homework in front of me and tried to take my mind off my argument with Esthra.

My cat Eugene came sauntering into the room and flopped on the bed beside me, rolling over to expose his white belly. He nudged against my hand, inviting me to pet him.

“Uh-uh,” I told him. “I know a trap when I see it.”

My mind was racing at a million miles an hour. Too bad none of those thoughts were on math.

Try as I might, I couldn’t stop thinking about Esthra in that shack, and how lonely it must have been. To be cut off from your people and stranded on a planet full of aliens...even aliens that wanted to help you.

Well, just one alien, who had walked away.

I didn’t want to feel guilty. I shouldn’t _have_ to feel guilty.

I gave up on homework when my parents got home. My parents both work long hours, so they have this thing about family dinners.

My mom and I cooked. My dad washed up. I went back upstairs to attempt my homework again.

It was like my brain was _trying_ to get me a D. Every time I tried to focus, my mind kept throwing out more and more questions.

 _Square root of_ x _where_ x _is_ \-- but what would happen if I didn’t help Esthra and she got caught by ‘them’?

 _Okay, but_ x _is_ \-- but what if ‘they’ found me through her?

 _Multiply_ x _by the value of_ \-- but what if something happened to me? To my family?

“Enough already!” I said out loud, and tossed my textbook onto my pillow. “Jeez.”

Eugene gave me a look. He had been on my bed the entire time, curled in a ball with his nose buried in his tail.

I envied him then, to be honest. Cats didn’t have to worry about alien invaders. They even didn’t care what the value of _x_ was.

_BONK!_

I nearly jumped out of my skin when something solid hit my windowsill and ricocheted off.

“What the --”

I went to my window and pulled up the sash, then narrowly ducked as a smaller rock went sailing by and bounced off my bed. “Hey!”

Esthra stood below on the lawn in her human morph. She was wearing some clothes I’d loaned her earlier in the week: a pair of jeans and a loose t-shirt. One bare arm was covered in dirt and mud, and the other held a bundle of dirty rags that looked like an old t-shirt. As I watched she stooped, wobbling unsteadily, and began to look around for another rock to throw.

“What are you doing?!” I hissed at her.

“I am attempting to attract your attention,” she said, entirely too loudly. Downstairs I heard the unmistakeable sound of my dad getting up from his chair.

“Well, stop it! If you break my window my dad will kill me!”

“I must speak with you,” she insisted. “It cannot wait.”

_“Courtney? Is everything okay up there?”_

I made a shooing motion at Esthra, and tried not to raise my voice above a loud whisper. “Go around to the front door! I’ll let you in.”

My dad opened my bedroom door and I stuck my head back in so quickly I whacked it on the open sash.

“Is everything okay, sweetheart?” he asked. “I thought I heard banging.”

“Ow...um, I think a bird hit the window.” I put my head outside again. Esthra was nowhere to be seen, and I breathed a sigh of relief. “It's gone now.”

“A bird at this time of night?” My dad said skeptically.

I made an ‘I don’t know’ sound. “A bat, then. I didn’t have time to ask it questions.”

Brrriiiiiiiiinggggg!

“That will be my --friend,” I stammered, and pointed at the open window. “Close that for me, will you? Thanks!”

I rushed down stairs like my butt was on fire and squeezed past my mom into the front hallway.

“Nene?” she said, and retied her bathrobe. “Who’s coming around so late?”

I paused.

My mom is one of the most incredible human beings I know, but she can smell bull from a mile away. I had to be careful about lying to her.

“I think she just wants to give me something important,” I said. “Go watch your show. I’ll be a couple minutes.”

“Uh, okay. Sure.” She turned and shuffled back into the living room, pausing to pet our other cat as she walked in from the kitchen. I breathed a sigh of relief. My parents both watched the news story with me; I couldn’t let them see her face.

Esthra stood on my front doorstep, her arm and hand still covered in dirt. She wasn’t wearing shoes, so her feet were just as filthy.

“ _Dude_ ,” I said. “What did you do with your sneakers?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I could not figure them out. The cables are hopelessly knotted together, and I could not compress my hoof enough.”

“Your foot.”

“My foot-uh. What a strange word.”

I shut the door behind me, grabbed Esthra by the arm and pulled her around the side of my house, through the gate into the backyard just outside the kitchen door. I shot a glance through the windows.

No-one around. My parents had gone back to watching TV.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered. “You know I can’t help you.”

Esthra blinked at me in the dim light.

“I believe you said you would not help me, not unless I divulge information,” she pointed out. “I came to offer you the truth.”

I shivered. “It couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

“No.” Her outline began to shift and bulge. “The Yeerks do not wait until the sun comes up.”

“What’s a Yeerk? And why are you changing back? My parents could see you!”

<One moment.>

“This is nuts,” I began to say, then Esthra began to unwrap the T-shirt she had bundled in her hand. A blue light glowed through the thin fabric. She folded back the shirt carefully and lifted out what looked like a large, smooth Rubiks cube.

<This is the Escafil device,> she said. <This is the source of my power to change shape. To morph.>

I admit I was a little disappointed. “So you mean it’s not magic?”

Esthra laughed. <No. I’m afraid it is not as whimsical as that. I was not born with this power. It was given to me for a mission...you see, I was an intelligence officer. A spy.>

“A spy, huh?” I said. I touched one of the cube’s sides and felt it warm under my fingertips. “Wanted by these...what did you call them? Yeerks?”

<Yes. They are my people’s greatest enemy.> Esthra stared at me intensely with her big eyes. <They are parasites. They enter the brains of sentient species through the ear canal, and take control of your body. And they are here on Earth.>

Looking back, I don’t really know why my first instinct was to be skeptical. I’d literally spent two weeks with a real, live alien. If a species as bizarre-looking as Andalites could exist, why not Yeerks?

Apparently, purple centaur people was where my brain drew the line.

“What do you mean, here on Earth?” I said, and pulled my hand away from the cube. No way there could be an alien invasion without the entire world finding out one way or another. Especially not in America. “Aliens here? It’d be on the six o’clock news.”

<Their ships are in orbit. They are already taking human hosts. Hundreds a month.>

“No way. Somebody would know.”

<Listen to me,> Esthra interrupted, and there was an edge to her tone I hadn’t heard before. <The Yeerks invade by stealth; you cannot know who is a host to one or not. I have seen things…> Here she paused, and I saw the same fear on her face that I had when we first met. Then she shook her head.

<I must be make contact with my people. But if I cannot join my brothers in the fight, I must equip you humans with the means to defend yourselves.>

My eyes fell on the cube.

<Yes, this,> Esthra said. <The power to morph. To become any creature you can touch.>

I reached out to the cube again, but this time she pulled it back. <This is not a power to be used lightly. And once you have it, you must be willing to make sacrifices. To fight.>

At this point I seriously considered just going back inside and watching the stupid documentary with my parents.

But if I walked away now, Esthra wouldn’t come back. I was sure of it.

<It is time to decide,> Esthra said. <Will you fight for your world? Your people?>

Don’t even ask me why she wanted me to help her. I mean, what could I do? Tell my parents? Call the White House? I was the least qualified person on Earth to be asked this question. But did I even have a choice?

“I guess I’m in this, whether I like it or not,” I said. I felt like crying.

A small, many-fingered hand laid on my arm.

<Sometimes, that is how things are,> Esthra said. Her eyes were kind; I felt a little burst of warmth in my stomach as she looked at me. Or maybe it was anxiety.

God knows I had enough to be anxious about now, and I wasn’t sure I believed in a secret alien invasion.

But then again, two weeks ago I didn’t even believe in aliens.

“Okay,” I said, and placed my hand on the cube.


	4. Chapter 4

**RACHEL**

There’s nothing cooler than flying.

I mean, I’m into gymnastics. I’m too tall to ever be really good, but I’ve always loved the challenge of the balance beam. The feeling of swinging on the parallel bars; that moment of exhilaration and danger when you let go of one bar and let your momentum carry you to the next. The absolute power and control of somersaulting on the trampoline.

All that doesn’t even compare to flying. Not one bit.

When you’re floating on a warm draft of air on a sunny afternoon, then you’ll know freedom. When you can see everything - and I mean _everything_ \- then you’ll know power. No human experience could ever compare.

I was in bald eagle morph. I’d met Tobias at the edge of the forest after school. We go flying together sometimes, when it’s sunny out.

We’re not really supposed to morph for personal reasons. Jake’s orders, I guess. But he wasn’t around and besides, someone had to tell Tobias and Ax we were meeting at Cassie’s barn.

I guess that someone may as well be me.

<Have I ever told you how incredibly cool this is?!> I yelled.

Tobias was about fifty yards away, floating on another thermal a little higher than me. We try not to fly close together to attract any attention.

Even from so far away I could see him in every detail -- the sharp eyes, the brown and white patterns on his feathers, the cruel, hooked beak.

Tobias laughed. <About a million times.>

<Yeah, well, it won’t kill you to hear it once again.> I spread my wings and caught an updraft that sent me soaring. <Yah-HAH!>

The highway turned from four strips of grayish-black to one thin, tiny stripe amongst a sea of green. Little toy cars zipped by, flashing in the afternoon sun. Near the highway, on the edge of a half-demolished parking lot I could see the Safeway where a Bug fighter had crashed a couple weeks ago.

<So, did Jake say why he wanted us to meet up?> Tobias asked.

<Not exactly. Remember the Bug fighter the Yeerks crashed a couple weeks ago? It was on the news last night. The police are looking for some woman who they said was seen at the crash site, or whatever.>

<And most of the police are Controllers, so if they’re looking for her…>

<Bingo.>

<You think it’s a coincidence?> Tobias wondered.

<Nah.> I suddenly wished I had thought to strap a watch onto my eagle leg or something. <How do you keep track of time up here?>

<I have my ways,> he said mysteriously.

<Watches and smartphones?>

Tobias laughed. <Bingo.>

We were kind of drifting back over the forest towards Cassie’s farm, but from this height even my eagle eyes couldn’t make out humans as more than little dots on the sidewalk. I folded my wings and dropped a little, then angled back towards the houses near the highway. There -- some guy stepping out into his backyard and lighting up a cigarette. The sun flashed on his watch.

<I’ve been in morph for about twenty minutes,> I said. <We’ve got plenty of time.>

<I think I just saw Ax,> Tobias said. He did the same thing I did; adjusted his wings and dropped a little so he could swoop lower over the forest. Then --

<Wait, that’s not Ax!>

<What do you mean, that’s not Ax?> I demanded. <Who else could it be?>

<I don’t know.>

Tobias flew higher, circling in a wide arc. He was over the forest about twenty yards away from me now, close to the houses. Too close.

<It’s an Andalite,> he reported. <It’s not Ax. It’s definitely not Visser Three, either.>

That got my attention. I began to circle towards him. If there weren’t any bird-watchers around, they would probably be having a cow.

I really, _really_ hoped there weren’t any bird-watchers around.

Maybe a hundred feet below me was a run-down looking shack made of metal and logs. It looked sort of familiar. <Hey, isn’t that the place we kept Jake when he was...you know.>

<That’s further away from all the houses,> Tobias said. <You’d be surprised how many of these places there are around the forest.>

<Right.>

I circled like Tobias had, eyes combing the forest below. It was hard not to get distracted by the sheer detail. I mean, I could see the individual pine needles on each tree. I could see a squirrel running up one trunk and a mouse twitching its little nose in the leaf litter. I could see the flash of purple --

Wait.

I banked a left and soared back over a cluster of pines. Then I saw it: a shape that was part human and part deer and definitely, unmistakably Andalite.

It was not Ax.

It was not Visser Three.

<What the -- > I added several more words I won’t repeat. <More Andalites?!>

<He could be a survivor from Ax’s ship,> Tobias said.

We rescued Ax some months ago from a crashed Andalite ship that fell into the sea. He was the only one in the Dome -- a kind of big park Andalites put on their ships, or at least that’s how Ax described it.

I couldn’t see enough of this Andalite to tell, but he didn’t look much older than Ax. He was purplish-blue, not blue and tan, and he stood outside the shack like he was waiting for something.

<Could be,> I replied. <But Ax stayed in the Dome cause he was a rookie.>

<The only others would have been in ships like Prince Elfangor’s. Remember?>

I remembered what Elfangor’s ship looked like. I remembered everything from that night, good parts and bad parts. I would never forget it as long as I lived. But I didn’t need to say that; Tobias knew.

<Yeah. I remember.>

<Hey, look what he’s carrying.>

I looked again. The Andalite was holding something that looked like a miniature boombox with a long aerial. <He’s going to bust out some tunes?>

Tobias snorted. <As long as it’s not Twenty One Pilots, I don’t care. Hey, there’s a human making a beeline for the shack. About twenty feet to the north.>

I looked and sure enough there was a kid making her way through the forest. A teenager, my age maybe. Brown hair and jeans with rips that could have been artful or lazy, I couldn’t really tell.

<She looks like she knows where she’s going. That is a woman with a purpose.>

<Like you at the mall?>

<You know me too well.> I peered down and saw her closing in on the little clearing where the old shack, and the Andalite, was. <What do we do? She sees that Andalite and she’s going to freak.>

<Can we distract her?> Tobias said anxiously.

<How?>

<I don’t know. Poop on her?>

<Poop on her? _Poop on her?!_ >

<It was the first thing that popped into my head, okay?> Tobias said defensively. <I’m not exactly the ideas guy.>

Too late. The Andalite turned a stalk eye towards the far side of the clearing, and the girl came jogging through the pine trees. I waited for her to scream --

And nothing. She waved to the Andalite and broke into a jog to catch up.

<Tell me you just saw what I did, Tobias.>

He sounded grim. <You’re not nuts. I saw it too.>

For about ten minutes we floated above the forest, watching the Andalite and the kid walking together like they were old pals. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could see her lips moving as she talked. She was gesturing to the weird device the Andalite held. She looked...relaxed. Happy, even.

Until a few minutes ago I thought my friends and I were the only ones on planet Earth who knew about Andalites. Obviously we were wrong. But who was this kid? More importantly, who was the Andalite? Someone who could help us, or another Andalite-Controller?

I spilled air from my wings and dropped, heading towards the cabin.

<Rachel, what are you doing?!>

<Going to get answers,> I said. <Keep an eye on the skies for me.>

I landed in the dirt and began to demorph. Tobias would tell me if there was anyone heading my way.

The shack was pretty gross inside, but it had obviously been worse before someone came in and cleaned it. There wasn’t any furniture left. An ancient looking electric light hung over an old, rotting wood bench, which had bits of metal and wires scattered across it. Nothing that suggested an Andalite lived here, but that didn’t mean anything. Ax was pretty handy with human technology, and you could buy basic electronic parts at the mall.

<All clear,> Tobias reported. <We should probably head to Cassie’s place, so better hurry.>

I poked around the entire shack, not like that was too hard. It was one room and a toilet out the back.

Nothing else. Bits of metal, circuits, what looked like a beer bottle stashed behind a moth-eaten mattress shoved into one corner. Apart from the swept floor and work bench, there was nothing.

I remorphed back to bald eagle and joined Tobias back in the sky. We caught an updraft and left the shack behind, then headed for Cassie’s place.

<Find anything?> Tobias asked.

<No, but we’ve still got to tell Jake. He’ll want to find this kid. And the Andalite.>

<Yeah.> Tobias sounded grim. <Well, I can’t help there...but I know who _she_ is.>


	5. Chapter 5

**COURTNEY**

“Where exactly are we going?” I asked.

We were about two miles away from Esthra’s hideout, further than I’d ever been into the forest. It was dark and the trees were thick and the leaf litter stuck to my sneakers as we walked.

If my parents knew I was out here they would flip, and for good reason. The woods weren’t just filled with cute bunny rabbits and squirrels. Snakes? Check. Wolves? Check. Bears? Check. Even mountain lions in the higher areas.

I looked at my watch. Esthra asked me not to bring my phone in case its signal messed with her transponder test, so I only had some old kids’ watch I’d found at the back of my closet.

Four thirty.

I wondered how long we would be out there -- we’d been walking for half an hour already, and it would take at least as long to get back. I’d told my parents I was studying at a friend’s house and would likely be home in time for dinner.

I really hoped we wouldn’t be out here that long. I didn’t _actually_ want to miss dinner.

<We are travelling to a location with an unobstructed view of your planet’s sky,> Esthra said. She was in full surveillance mode, both stalk eyes up and scanning around. <And we will attempt to use this transponder to make contact with my people.>

I glanced at the device she carried in both hands.

“Dude, I gotta be honest. You could put that on your shoulder and you’d be right at home in a Salt’n’Pepa video.”

<I assume that was one of your popular culture references.>

“You assume right. Just like I _assume_ you know where we’re going, because if not I _assume_ my parents will take away my internet privileges if they ever find out I was here.”

<Yes, I know the place,> Esthra replied. <I have been exploring this area. At night, of course.>

“Yeah, I know.”

She glanced at me with her main eyes, and I shrugged. I knew she couldn’t hole up in that shack twenty-four seven. At some point she would have to go out to eat, however she did without a mouth; and to...well, you can use your imagination. Biological functions, and all that.

“I figured,” I added, “with four eyes and a bladed tail, anything that messes with you would have to be stupid.”

Esthra laughed. <I agree.>

The trees ahead began to thin out as we walked, and suddenly in front of us was a little meadow. Fields of yellow-green grass and clear skies, even. It looked almost picturesque.

<This is the place.>

“It’s pretty.”

<Yes, from what I have seen your planet is beautiful. All the more reason to not let the Yeerks have it.>

I followed Esthra as she started picking her way through the grass, though unlike her I had to actually check where to put my feet. Sneakers and jeans wouldn’t do much if I got bitten by a rattlesnake.

Then as I looked up I spotted a shape moving in the grass in front of us. I forgot about snakes for a second and grabbed Esthra by the arm.

<What is it?>

“It’s a possum, I think. They’re usually nocturnal.”

Esthra looked puzzled. <Is it dangerous?>

I shrugged. “It could bite me, I guess, if I was one of those idiots who bothers wild animals for their Youtube channel. It might be a good morph for practice.”

The possum must have heard me or smelled me, for he picked up speed a little. Esthra broke into a trot and brushed past me.

“What are you doing?” I asked, but she reached the possum in about two or three steps and used her tail to gently pin it.

<We do not have time to chase Earth creatures,> she said impatiently. <Acquire it, quickly.>

“And how do I do that, exactly?”

<Place your hand on the animal and concentrate. Think about the animal, how it moves and what it looks like. The morphing technology is activated by thoughts.>

I placed my hand on the possum’s back. “Do you ever stop to wonder just how strange life is? Like, I don’t even know how your morphing technology works, so here I am manhandling a possum in the hopes I’ll be able to change into it at some point.”

I felt like the world’s biggest dork as I thought about possums. What did I actually know about them? Not a lot. They were nocturnal and looked like weird little cat monkeys. How did I even know when its DNA was ‘acquired’?

<It is done,> Esthra said.

I took my hand away. The possum was limp and quiet, and its mouth was open. I gave her a reproachful look. “You didn’t tell me it would die!”

<Acquiring DNA does not kill the animal,> Esthra said, and bent her upper body closer. <Though perhaps we did frighten it.>

“Yeah, no kidding.” I wrinkled my nose as an awful stench hit me and jumped away, rubbing my hands on my jeans. “Oh, ew! It’s playing dead.” When Esthra looked puzzled, I said, “It’s like...well, they make themselves look like rotting corpses so predators won’t eat them. They really sell it too.”

<Oh, a defense mechanism? How effective. If I were a predator, I certainly would not eat it.>

“Yeah, well, let’s just leave it alone. He’ll wake up and go about his day when we’re out of here, and I want to test this relay and go. Some of us have homework.”

We left the possum and its stinky play-acting behind and crossed the meadow. At about the center Esthra stopped and held the transponder out to me.

<Please hold this,> she said, <And be careful.>

I held it steady while she began flipping switches and buttons on the side. I have to admit, it was a pretty impressive piece of technology. I’m not really up to date on building machines or anything, but I knew some kids at school who liked to tinker with electronics and robotics and whatever. They would have thought this was pretty cool.

“So how does this thing work, anyway? Is it like a walkie talkie?”

<I do not know what that is,> Esthra said absently. She spun a little dial on top of the machine and pulled out what looked like an aerial. <This device is a smaller, primitive version of a transponder. It will allow me to create and maintain a two-way connection.>

“So a big, chunky walkie talkie.”

<I suppose. If I have built it correctly, and with some luck, I can use humans’ low frequency radio waves to amplify and buffer any transmission I make.>

That went all the way over my head. “Does that mean you can contact your home world?”

<No, of course not. That would require far more power. Now, please be quiet. I must concentrate.>

I shut up and let Esthra fiddle with the little dials and switches. She closed her eyes and seemed to be focusing. Or maybe she was praying it would work.

Nothing happened. She spun a dial and flipped a switch and closed her eyes again.

Silence. Only some radio static.

<I do not understand why it is not working,> she muttered. <It should pick up any Andalite emergency signal. There has to be one. All of our fighters are equipped with emergency transmission capabilities -- >

She paused then and her ears twitched. Seconds later I heard it too: a hum, almost too low to make out against the static. First it was quiet, then it began to build louder and louder, rumbling and vibrating in my chest and fingers.

Then a crackle of static that made my hair stand on end. My entire head of hair! And let me tell you, my hair is not short or lightweight.

Esthra’s stalk eyes pointed upwards and I followed her gaze. At first I saw nothing -- then the air shimmered and a space ship appeared.

Most of my generation are sci-fi nerds, and if I’m being honest that includes me as well. I grew up on Star Trek and Star Wars. I knew what a space ship looked like on a movie screen.

Those were CGI or little models.

This was the real thing.

 

It was big enough to block out the sun and half the sky as it swept over us. It looked sort of like an old battleaxe, with a pointed bridge and sharp-looking wings. I saw what looked like some sort of gun turrets tucked under the wings and felt my legs turn to jelly. That thing could fire and turn both of us to ashes in seconds. And there was...something sinister about it. I don’t know how to describe it, but I knew instantly it was no Andalite ship.

I looked at Esthra, who had all four eyes trained on the ship as it circled back around. If I thought she had looked scared before, that was nothing compared to the wild terror on her face now.

“We have to get out of here!” I yelled.

The ship circled around to a spot about three hundred feet away, right on the far edge of the meadow. It hovered there for a second, then began to lower.

It was going to land, and somehow I knew we would not want to be here when it did.

Esthra was still rooted to the spot, staring at the ship. She was shaking.

I put down the transponder and grabbed her by the shoulder. Reluctantly she looked at me.

“Earth to Esthra. Let’s go!”

<No,> Esthra said, and seemed to shake off her paralysis. She took a step back, breathing in quick gasps. <They will have sensors that picked up my signal. I was -- I was a fool! I should have realized!>

I dug my fingers into her shoulder, trying to pull her away, but she didn’t move.

“Whatever, you’re an idiot,” I snapped. The wind roared around us; the ship threw around leaves and grass stalks and dirt in every direction as it began to land. “I don’t care, as long as you’re not a dead idiot. Come _on!_ ”

<If they find me, they will see what they expect: an Andalite.> She spoke slowly, calmly, though her eyes were still wide. <You must leave me. You must hide.>

“Stop trying to be a martyr and run!”

<No!> She pushed at me with more force than I thought her capable of with her weak little arms. <They will tear this forest apart looking for me. If you run, you have a chance to survive this. Now GO!>

The ship landed with a shudder than ran through the ground. I reached for Esthra again, but she stepped out of my reach.

<Go,> she insisted. <I will be fine.>

I turned and ran.


	6. Chapter 6

**TOBIAS**

Rachel and I didn’t stick around to watch the kid and her Andalite friend take their evening stroll. We found Ax -- the _actual_ Ax this time -- and headed for Cassie’s place.

Cassie’s parents have a farm on the edge of the forest. Her mom’s a vet at the Gardens, this kind of zoo-slash-theme park closer to town, and her dad runs a rehabilitation center for sick and injured wildlife from their barn. That’s where we meet. It’s always kind of noisy and we have to keep the doors open, but as a hawk I see everything. No-one would be sneaking up on us without me knowing.

Cassie, Jake and Marco were waiting for us by the time we swooped in. Cassie was giving a pill to a fox with mange. Marco was lolling on a hay bale. Jake was pacing back and forth while Rachel and Ax demorphed.

Me, I don’t have to do that. My human body is now a morph, courtesy of some strings pulled by the Ellimist. It wasn’t exactly what I asked for, but the guy wasn’t known for following requests by the letter. And this way I can still fight...so for now it works.

“So let me get this straight,” Jake said, after Rachel explained what we saw. “You saw some kid with school talking to an Andalite. A new Andalite.”

“How else can I say it?” Rachel replied, shrugging impatiently. “It wasn’t Visser Three, and it definitely wasn’t Elfangor. And it wasn’t Ax, not unless he’s been buddying up with some kid from school without us knowing.”

Ax shook his head. He was in human morph, made from a combination of Jake, Rachel, Cassie and Marco’s DNA. “I avoid contact with other humans.” He paused, then added, “Hyu-man. Why is it not pronounced hoo-man?”

Marco rolled his eyes. “You know, that’s a question I ask myself every night.”

“Getting back on topic…” Jake said impatiently. “Tobias, you haven’t seen any other Andalites wandering around before, have you?”

<If I had, you’d be the first to know.>

“Okay.” Jake rubbed his face with one hand and sighed. “We probably should find out what this Andalite is doing here. Ax? Any thoughts?”

Ax looked troubled.

“I could not be sure unless I spoke to him myself,” he replied. “He could be one of the survivors from the battle that sunk my people’s Dome ship. But if that were the case, why have we not heard of this from the Chee?”

<The Chee can’t be everywhere,> I pointed out. <Maybe this guy slipped through the cracks. It happens.>

Cassie raised her hand. “It’s all good speculating, but why don’t we just pay him a visit and ask?”

“Ask what, to borrow a cup of sugar?” Marco retorted. “Look, forget about the Andalite for a second, those guys can take care of themselves. What about this kid?”

“Tobias said he knew her from school,” Rachel said. The others looked at me.

<Yeah, Courtney,> I said. I told them her last name. <She was a friend of mine.>

She’d been one of my only friends, back when bullies at school made my life a living nightmare. I guess I’d kind of _liked_ her. Later I figured it had more to do with her being nice to me. Since the night we met Elfangor, and with Rachel...I hadn’t really given her any thought.  <She goes to school with you guys.>

“Yeah, and she’s weird,” Marco said, rolling his eyes. “And now we know why.”

Rachel cocked an eyebrow at him. “After all the stuff we’ve done, you’re going to call some kid from school weird?”

“Look, we have to do something,” Cassie snapped, and we all stared at her. It wasn’t like Cassie to lose her cool. “Jake?”

Jake shook his head. “Not yet. We don’t know what Courtney knows or doesn’t know. We need to find out.”

“Whoa, hold up.” Marco held out his hands in a 'stop' gesture. “Reveal ourselves to some kid we don’t even know?”

<I know her,> I said.

“Just because _you_ had the hots for her doesn’t make her trustworthy,” Marco sneered. “I’m just saying.”

“Marco,” Rachel growled, and shot me a glance. “Shut up.”

Jake and Cassie also turned their heads to look at me. I’m not so good at making facial expressions nowadays; hawks don’t smile or frown or cry. But I knew how to read a person’s face well enough to guess what each of them was thinking.

Jake was going over the situation in his head. Wondering if the risk was worth it. Weighing up the decisions he had to made. Trying to remember anything he could about this unknown kid.

Cassie was hoping I was right. Troubled at the prospect of bringing another person into this war. Worrying for all of us, and for what it might mean to risk exposure for a stranger.

Rachel had guessed there had been something more to what I said. She knew me well, and she knew what school had been like. She was embarrassed for me.

There was a very long silence. Then I said, <You’re right, Marco. I don’t know for sure if she could be trusted with our secret. But there are no guarantees about anything, and you know that.>

Marco gave me a long, hard look. But as sarcastic and annoying as he could sometimes be, he also knew when to stop.

“If you say she’s okay, I believe you,” he said. “But she could still be a Controller. We should watch our butts here, in case we get into something we can’t get out of.”

“I don’t know if we have a choice,” Jake said wearily. “If she’s seen an Andalite, the Yeerks won’t leave her alone.”

“Whatever we decide,” Ax said, “We should move quickly. The Yeerks may already be tracking this Andalite’s attempts to reach the homeworld.”

“Not yet.”

“When?” Marco demanded. “Come on, man. We can’t sleep on this.”

Jake sighed.

“Okay,” he said. “Okay. Let’s go to her house, take a look around. Ax-man? Rachel? You guys have already morphed. You up for a little surveillance?”

“I can’t,” Rachel said. “My dad’s coming over. You know, for a family dinner.” She made a face.

Ax began to demorph, back to his Andalite body.

<I am fine, Prince Jake,> he said.

“Don’t call me prince,” Jake said, though he smiled. Then the smile faded, and he suddenly looked tired. Marco shot him a glance like he wanted to say something, but he was silent. “Anyone else have to go?”

Cassie shook her head. “My parents are watching one of those David Attenborough documentaries. They won’t notice anything for an hour at least.”

Marco began to morph. “My dad’s working late. Let’s do this.”

“That’s a first,” Rachel said. “Gung-ho Marco.”

  


A couple minutes and four bird morphs later and we rose above the treeline near Cassie’s farm.

As the sun set the air cooled and we had to flap for altitude, but we could still see the houses bathed in late afternoon sunlight. There were a couple kids still heading home, and cars pulling into driveways. Parents coming home from work, bringing takeout or picking up their kids, talking and laughing and living normal lives.

<Do we know where this kid lives?> Jake asked. He was in his peregrine falcon morph, floating a hundred yards away, the sun glinting off his feathers.

<I think she’s in the next subdivision over,> Cassie said. She turned one fierce eye to the coloured squares below us. <Not sure which one though.>

<I know where she lives,> I said.

I waited for Marco to say something snide, but he said nothing. Maybe he just wanted to get this over with, like me.

I was a hawk now, and school wasn’t really an option for me anymore. I spent my days tracking Controllers we knew and scouting for new Yeerk pool entrances. I had no problem following them. I didn’t want to spy on Courtney.

Maybe because she had been a friend. Maybe I was afraid of what I’d see if I did.

I said privately to Ax, <Thoughts?>

<I am not sure of your meaning, my friend.>

I turned my head to look at Ax. His morph was a northern harrier, a smaller hawk with white markings like an owl. <I mean, there’s another one of your people on Earth. The first you’ve seen in months, not counting Visser Three. You gotta feel something about that.>

<Visser Three is not an Andalite,> Ax said flatly. <He is a Yeerk who has stolen and enslaved an Andalite body.>

<You know what I mean, man. Being the only Andalite within a hundred light years has to be lonely sometimes.>

I could almost feel Ax’s hesitation from here, and I wondered for a second if I’d insulted him. Up until recently Ax hadn’t really opened up to us about anything from his culture, but he’d started to share things here and there. The impression I got from him was Andalites were mostly warriors. Maybe implying he could be lonely was weak or something. Not that I was the best person to decide that.

<I am eager to speak to another Andalite,> he said eventually, <but I will not approach him unless ordered to by Prince Jake.>

<Fair enough. What about Courtney?>

<The human?> Ax paused. <I am reluctant to interfere in a human matter. It is not my place to decide how to...deal with one of your species.>

<We’re not going to _deal_ with her,> I said sharply. <We’re going to make sure she doesn’t get caught in the middle of us and the Yeerks.>

<Some casualties are inevitable.>

<Yeah, well, not this one.> I banked a left and let the last warm breeze of the day lift me higher, then made my thought-speak public. <Hey guys, follow me. I’ll take you to Courtney’s place.>


	7. Chapter 7

**COURTNEY**

I had never run so fast in my life.

I hit the treeline going at top speed, grabbed a low hanging branch of the nearest elm and pulled myself up. I wasn’t even used to climbing, but I motored up that tree like my life depended on it...because if I couldn’t hide myself in the next two seconds, it would.

Every instinct I possessed told me to run screaming into the forest and go hide under my bed, but I had to see what was happening. So I straddled a crook in the tree trunk, hugged it with my arms and legs and peered through the leaves.

Esthra stood in the middle of the meadow, a small purple thing in a sea of green-yellow. A ramp opened on the side of the ship and lowered with a thud I felt all the way up my tree.

Then out of the ship they came.

They looked like giant worms or centipedes, bigger than any horror movie could imagine. Red jelly eyes surrounded a mouth full of teeth and a lolling, slobbering tongue.

 _Taxxons_ , I reminded myself. They were terrible, vile monsters, or so Esthra said. She had told me about them after she showed me her weird cube.

Nothing could have prepared me for seeing them in the flesh. Or whatever they had that passed for flesh.

I slapped a hand over my mouth, afraid for a second I would actually vomit. Either that or start screaming and never stop.

Then more aliens leaped from the ship. Bladed dinosaur-like aliens; dark green with blades everywhere. Wrists, elbows, knees and head. Red eyes and a snake-like neck that turned from side to side.

 _Hork-Bajir._ Esthra said they were a race of peaceful creatures - once. Now their entire species were slaves of the Yeerks. Each of the aliens had a parasitic slug wrapped around their brain.

 _This can’t be real_ , I thought. It had to be some kind of joke. But what kind of sick prank could create monsters that realistic? Even from my vantage point I could see the Taxxons’ bloated bodies moving as they shuffled and slithered towards the edge of the meadow. I could see the sun glistening off the Hork-Bajir’s razor sharp blades, see the muscles in their necks working as they turned their heads from side to side.

<Spread out! Secure the area!>

An awful thought-speak voice exploded in my head, so loudly I nearly fell off my tree branch. Then seconds later a familiar shape appeared at the ship’s entrance.

A _very_ familiar shape.

<Well, well, well.>

It was an Andalite. That threw me off guard for a second, but then I remembered what Esthra had told me.

The Yeerks had taken one Andalite. Just one, and he was called Visser Three. She didn’t explain what a Visser was and why he was number three and not number two, or five, or twenty-four.

The way she looked when she talked about him scared me. You know how you can tell when someone’s feelings come from a place really personal? It was like that. Esthra hated and feared Visser Three, and I would bet my right arm she had serious beef with him.

The Visser stepped down the ramp slowly, his stalk eyes moving around. The Taxxons and Hork-Bajir fanned out, moving cautiously towards the edges of the meadow. Almost like they were checking for --

Oh.

Well, forget taking away my internet privileges. If my parents knew how much danger I was in right now they would straight-up kill me. That was assuming the Yeerks didn’t do it first.

A Hork-Bajir moved towards my tree, and I froze. I don’t even think I breathed. If it looked up…

I didn’t want to think about what those blades would do to me.

<We meet again,> the Visser said. He was projecting his thought-speak across the entire meadow, loud enough for me to pick it up even from my vantage point. <Esthra, is it?>

<Do not play games with me,> Esthra said coldly. <You know who I am.>

Visser Three laughed. <Oh yes, I know who you are. And so does my host. The last time we met, my host almost overpowered me in his shock. He is not so defiant this time.>

<The last time we met, you ran like a coward when my people came to save me.>

Fwapp!

Esthra whipped her tail forward, faster than I could see! The Visser jerked, but the blow fell on the device sitting on the ground between them. Even from here I could see the burst of sparks as wires frayed and separated.

Fwapp! Fwapp!

The transponder fell apart in a pile of metal and twisted circuitry.

 _There goes my month’s allowance_ , I thought. What the point of wrecking it was, I had no idea.

<The device you used to attempt contact with your fellow warriors,> Visser Three commented, his main eyes on the wreck. <And where are the Andalite bandits? Hiding in the trees for an ambush?>

<There are no others,> Esthra replied calmly.

<Don’t lie to me.> Visser Three gestured to the wrecked transponder. <You required resources to build a device capable of making radio transmissions. My subordinates tell me the parts are for sale in many human markets in this town.>

Esthra was destroying the evidence, I realised suddenly. Making it harder to trace any of the transponder parts back to obvious contact with humans. Trying to protect me.

I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat and wished I had something more useful than a possum morph to help her. All I could do was shiver and huddle in the tree and pray to God the Hork-Bajir below me didn’t think to look up.

Esthra laughed. <It was child’s play to obtain the components necessary to build the device. Not my fault you lack the competence to track down a single Andalite who slipped through your fingers.>

The Visser’s demeanour changed, from arrogant triumph to something dark and foul.

<Take her,> he growled. <Alive.>

Two Hork-Bajir rushed forward to attack.

Esthra fought them hard, but she couldn’t win. Not against so many. She must have known that, and yet she did anyway.

I never asked what her tail blade was for, but after seeing the wounds it left on the Hork-Bajir, I didn’t have to.

I felt like dirt, watching her fight them by herself, but I didn’t know what else to do. An opossum morph wasn’t going to do anything against those bladed monsters.

One of the Hork-Bajir shrugged off a frantic tail strike and grabbed her by the shoulder, forcing her to her knees. Another bent her arm behind her back, prompting a cry of pain.

Fwapp!

Visser Three stepped forward and struck with one smooth movement. His tail blade stopped half an inch from her neck.

<There will be others,> Esthra said. Her face twisted in pain from the Hork-Bajir’s hold on her arm and shoulder, but her eyes burned with hatred.

<Yes,> the Visser sneered, <and I will have them as well.>

My legs began to cramp. I gritted my teeth and bore it.

The guards shoved Esthra up the ramp of their ship. With a shout from the Visser the rest of the Yeerks left their positions and filed back into the ship.

The Visser was the last to leave, and he stood on the ramp for almost a minute, looking around the meadow while I cowered in the tree.

The ship lifted off with a roar and a backwash of wind. I closed my eyes and tried not to breathe in the dust and pollen. When I opened them it was gone.

My legs were killing me and I’m pretty sure the bark was cutting into my fingers, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. The thought of that ship hovering invisible in the sky above was more terrifying than I could comprehend.

_It was all real._

I didn’t doubt Esthra existed, though there were definitely moments I thought I was just nuts. The other things she told me seemed unbelievable. I mean, a secret alien invasion? Mind-controlling slugs and a galactic war? I could sell those ideas to Hollywood for the Star Trek reboot.

But I couldn’t deny what I had just seen. And now these Yeerks had Esthra.

It took me a long time to come down from that tree. I don’t think I’d ever been so terrified in my life, and once my brain caught up to the present and realized how close I came to dying, I cried for a long time. Ugly crying and hyperventilating, like I was a little girl having nightmares of monsters in my closet.

Except this time the monsters were real, and they were taking over the world.


	8. Chapter 8

**CASSIE**

Courtney’s house was only a few blocks away from my place, in a subdivision that almost bordered the national forest.

It was a nice suburb, I guess. There wasn’t really anything special about it, or about her house. Two storeys, brick and stucco, a backyard about half the size of mine.

No cars in the driveway. Her parents were still at work.

<You’re sure this is Courtney’s place?> Jake said.

<Yeah,> Tobias said. <I’ve been here a couple of times. That’s one of her cats in the backyard.>

 I banked, turning my head left and right. I was in osprey morph, and their eyes were designed for finding fish in water. Perfect for looking through windows.

I spotted a bedroom on the second storey facing the street. The window was closed, but the curtains were open. It looked like a kid’s bedroom. Posters on the walls. Figurines and books cluttered on shelves. A computer and desk.

<I found Courtney’s room,> I said. <Looks out onto the street.>

<How do you know that’s her room?>

<The notebook on the desk has her name on it, Jake. Osprey eyes, remember?>

<Oh.>

<Duh,> Marco said helpfully.

We were spread out over a few hundred yards; birds of prey never group together. We didn’t need to advertise that the Animorphs arrived on the scene. We were in enough danger already, and so was Courtney.

I tried to think of what I knew about her. We weren’t exactly friends, though we had a couple of classes together. We said hi on occasion. Most of the time she seemed preoccupied. Like she lived in another world.

<Look!> Tobias said suddenly.

I caught sight of movement in the forest beyond the backyard. And then I saw Courtney.

She was running. And I don’t mean running like a jog in the woods. I mean full-speed, panicking, wild animal running. The way a squirrel or a mouse runs when it’s being chased.

<Is that her?> Marco asked.

<Yeah,> Tobias said grimly. <That’s her.>

Courtney headed straight for the back fence, jumped, grabbed the top with both hands. She hoisted herself up and over, sneakers scrambling on the wood, and dropped to the ground on the other side.

I could see her chest heaving as she sat on her haunches for a moment. Then she struggled to her feet and took off across the backyard at a jog, disappearing into the house through her back door.

<I have a bad feeling about this,> I muttered as the bedroom door burst open. Courtney threw open her closet and dragged out a duffel bag. <Uh-oh.>

<What is it?> Jake asked.

<I don’t know, but something bad happened. Look how she’s acting.>

<She is filling a container with clothing,> Ax noted.

<Yeah,> Tobias said. <It looks like she’s getting ready to run. I don’t think she’d do that, unless -- >

He stopped then, because Courtney pulled a familiar sky-blue box from the duffel bag.

_A morphing cube!_

My mind flashed back to the night we met Elfangor, in the abandoned construction site near the mall. He had used some sort of blue cube to give us the power to morph.

It was because of him that we were fighting the Yeerks. He died protecting us from Visser Three. I’ll never forget that, as long as I live.

<An Escafil device?!> Ax exclaimed.

<Say what?>

<Named after one of its designers. It has other names, of course, but that is most common.>

<Who cares what it’s called?> Marco snapped. <She shouldn’t have one. This is bad, man. Really bad.>

We watched as Courtney wrapped the cube and carefully packed it back into her bag. She knew what it was, no doubt there.

<Prince Jake,> Ax said calmly. <If this human flees and we lose her, the device may fall into Yeerk hands. We cannot allow that to happen.>

Marco snorted. <Yeah, no kidding. Jake, what are we going to do?>

Jake said nothing.

<Come on, Big Jake. We need a plan.>

I know Jake pretty well. I’ve known him for years, even before this war began. He never asked to be the leader. The one responsible for making life and death decisions. Sometimes I wonder how he does it -- then I figure I don’t really want to know.

If Courtney had access to a morphing cube, that made her number one priority. But who was she really? A Controller? Or just a scared kid running away from an alien encounter?

<If she knows about Andalites,> I said. <Maybe she knows about Yeerks too. Maybe we should try to talk to her.>

<Really, Cassie?> Marco said flatly. <Would you bring someone else into this freakshow?>

That stopped me in my tracks. I hadn’t thought about that.

What would our lives be like if we had never met Elfangor in that construction site? Could any of us have turned away from the Andalite, dying like he was? I know I couldn’t.

But then again, I had the others. Rachel and Jake. Tobias and Marco and Ax. Courtney didn't have anyone.

Courtney grabbed her duffel bag and left the room. Half a minute later I saw her head out the front door and take a left down the street.

<Follow her,> Jake said as she cut through a lane between two houses. <Ax, go ahead and stop her from running. Better she think we’re all Andalites for now.>

Ax dropped from the sky and disappeared into a thicket of trees about fifty feet away from Courtney, who was climbing through a bent metal fence separating the forest from the line of houses.

Marco laughed. <Rachel will be so mad she missed this.>

I was nervous, and I didn’t even know why. Compared to all the missions we’d been on and all the times we’d fought Yeerks, getting the morphing cube from a girl from school should be nothing. Right?

<We’re not here to scare her,> Jake said sharply. <If she knows the other Andalite, she’ll recognise Ax as one of the good guys. If not...well, either way, we need that cube.>

It was almost sundown by now and I could barely see Courtney moving through the trees with her duffel bag clutched close. Ax was twenty feet away and closing fast.

Leaves crunched under his hooves. Courtney froze in place.

“Who’s there?”

Ax moved forward slowly, cautiously, until the shadows from the trees could no longer hide him.

Courtney’s eyes widened. At first I expected her to scream or faint or run. Instead she said, “I guess that radio thing worked, huh?”

Ax looked puzzled.

<She probably means that boombox thing the Andalite had,> Tobias said.

<You have seen an Andalite before,> Ax said. He did not sound pleased.

“Well, yeah.”

I don’t know what the others were expecting, but this was definitely not the usual type of reaction a human or a Controller might give. Yeerks and Andalites hated each other, enough that Controllers would attack one on sight. Neither did she seem afraid. Curious, yes. A little wary. Not afraid.

Ax looked like he didn’t quite know what to make of Courtney either. He took another step closer, lowering his tail from its usual position.

<We have been watching you,> he said. <You have something of ours.>

“The morphing cube?” Courtney asked, and Ax nodded. She clutched her bag closer. “I can’t. I’m supposed to look after it.”

Ax pointed a stalk eye upwards, where we were watching.

<Prince Jake,> he said. <I do not wish to take the device from this human by force.>

Courtney followed his gaze upwards, shielding her eyes from the last rays of sun.

Could she see all of us from that far below? I doubted it. Compared to birds of prey humans were blind.

<Let me talk to her,> Tobias said.

<No way,> Jake replied flatly. <Too much of a risk.>

Tobias laughed. <What’s she going to do? Track me down in my meadow?>

Jake made a frustrated sound. Then, <Alright, fine. It’s not like this could get any worse.>

He dropped from the air and soared low over the trees, then landed on a branch above Ax’s head.

<Listen, Courtney. This isn’t a game.>

“I know.”

<There’s people out there looking for this device,> Tobias continued. <And if the cube falls into their hands -- >

“I know!” Courtney exploded. “I know about the Yeerks, okay?! I know what’s going on! I know.”

<Okay. I hear you.>

She took two steps back and slumped against a nearby tree, then put her hands over her face.

“They have Esthra,” she said after half a minute. Her voice was muffled. “The Yeerks took her, and I don’t know what to do.”

Ax sounded like he didn’t quite believe her. <This Andalite is a female?>

<Why is that weird?> Marco wondered.

Jake sighed. <Okay, crunch time. Do we trust this kid enough to show her we’re not all Andalites?>

<It’s not about trust,> Marco said. <It’s about taking a risk. If she’s a Controller, she could go to the Yeerks and tell them everything.>

<There are ways to take care of that problem,> Tobias pointed out. <We did it once with Jake. Besides, do we have an alternative?>

<We shouldn’t do it because we don’t have any other choice,> I said. <But I don’t want to write this kid off. And maybe...maybe with one extra person, this could be the start of something bigger.>

<Two people,> Ax said. <The human said this Andalite has been captured by the Yeerks.>

<Two?>

<Yes, Prince Jake.>

One thing I love about Jake is he’ll never ask us to do something he wouldn’t do himself. And even though I didn’t like the idea of writing Courtney off, Marco was right. It was a risk, and it was something we all had to decide on.

<What about Rachel?> I asked. <She should decide, too.>

Marco snorted. <You know what Xena would say. She’d be all for it.>

Jake was silent. I looked at him. Impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Then he spilled air and dropped through the trees. He landed between Ax and Courtney. Then he began to demorph.


	9. Chapter 9

**COURTNEY**

 

It’s not the first time I’ve seen someone morph. I’ve watched Esthra change from human to Andalite a few times, and it never fails to be very cool and utterly disgusting all at once.

I asked, but she still won’t tell me how it works. She said I wouldn’t want to know.

She’s usually right about things like that.

The bird standing between me and the Andalite doubled in size, legs stretching and bones thickening and grinding. I expected to see blue fur, four eyes, a tail. Instead pink skin smoothed over brown and white feathers. The hooked beak softened into a nose and a mouth, and the wings and talons into fingers and toes.

A boy stood where a bird had been minutes ago. He looked solid, I guess, or sturdy. White. Brown hair and eyes.

Familiar.

“Aren’t you in my math class?” I asked.

His eyebrows rose in surprise, then he grinned. “Yeah. I’m Jake.”

“Jake, yeah.” I indicated the tight shirt and bike shorts he wore. “What’s with the spandex?”

<This is very dangerous,> the Andalite said heatedly. <If this human is captured-- >

“I’m not going to tell anyone,” I assured him.

<It is not a matter of choice.>

I pulled the cube out of my bag, unwrapped it and held it in my hand. His main eyes flicked to it, then to my face. “You know what this is, right? Esthra used it to give me the morphing power. I’m not completely helpless.”

<If that is true,> the Andalite said, <then she broke one of our most important laws.>

He looked angry, and so did Jake. Were they mad at me? At Esthra? I couldn’t be sure.

I pulled the cube back and wrapped my other hand around it, shielding its soft glow.

“She didn’t know about you guys,” I said. “But she also said it was our world and humans needed to fight for it themselves.”

I felt a rush of wind over the top of my head, then another two birds landed on the leaf litter next to Jake. They began to demorph, their features shifting and melting. As they lost their feathers and bird legs I saw brown skin, dark hair and five fingered hands.

They were human, too. A black girl and a Latino boy.

I thought I recognized the boy. I definitely recognized the girl.

“Cassie?!”

Cassie smiled sheepishly and gave me a little wave. “Hey.”

We weren’t friends, exactly. We had a few classes together in school, and we’d been paired up for group assignments. Nobody ever makes friends in group assignments.

I mean, Cassie is cool, though she’d been talking to me less and less over the past couple months. I guess now I knew why.

“Hi,” the boy said brightly. “Name’s Marco. Please don’t turn me over to the Yeerks.”

<My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill,> Ax said. He still had his main eyes fixed on me, with a look I could only describe as suspicious.

“Aximili--uh...”

Marco smirked. “Just call him Ax. Saves time.”

<I’m Tobias,> the hawk said. <We used to hang out in school.>

I did remember Tobias. We had been friends since he started going to my school, and we’d hung out a few times. He had disappeared a few months ago. I figured he’d been shuttled off to his aunt on the other coast and didn’t want to say goodbye.

I’d been a little hurt, obviously, but there was nothing I could do about it, so I tried to put it behind me. And now...

“And now you’re a talking bird,” I said. “Okay. I can work with that.”

<It’s a long story.>

So these were the ‘Andalite bandits’. Esthra would have been surprised, if she were here.

I felt a pang of anxiety at the memory of my friend being shoved up the ramp of that ship. I didn’t even know where they could have taken her, or where to start looking. But maybe these people did.

It was worth a shot, anyway.

“Look,” I said. “I’ll give you the cube, if it’s what you want, but my friend-- Esthra-- is gone. The Yeerks took her.” I looked at Ax. “You know what they’ll do to her. You know better than I do. Can you help me get her back?”

<I follow Prince Jake,> Ax said, though he looked disturbed.

Jake was frowning, his arms crossed. He didn’t look up until Cassie gave him a little nudge in the side.

“What happened?” he asked.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The memories of the past couple hours were still fresh, and so was the horror of it all.

“We were testing this radio she built. She said there were Andalites on Earth, and she needed to contact them. I guess that means you guys.”

<I remember that,> Tobias said. <It looked like an old-school boombox.>

That caught me off-guard.

“You’ve been spying on me? Not cool, Tobias.”

“Can we keep on topic, people?” Jake interrupted. “I have to be home in a half hour.”

“Right.” I tried to collect my thoughts. “Then this spaceship showed up, and...I don’t know how to put it. There was something really evil about it. Like an _aura_ , you know?”

Marco, Jake, Ax and Cassie exchanged a look. They probably thought I was crazy. I still wasn’t sure if I was or not.

“Esthra told me to hide, so I did. Monsters came from the ship. Huge, disgusting worms.” I shuddered at the memory. “God, they were so gross.”

“Taxxons,” Cassie said grimly.

“Yeah, that’s what Esthra called them. And huge dinosaur-looking things. Big talons and blades all along their arms and legs.”

“Hork-Bajir.”

“Right. And an Andalite. Older than Esthra, I guess. I didn’t get a good look. She called him Visser Three. I don’t even know what a Visser is, but I guess that means something.”

The others shared another look between them. I guess it meant something to them too.

“He told the...the Hork-Bajir to get her. She put up a good fight.” To my embarrassment I felt my eyes began to sting, and I blinked furiously to keep the tears from coming. “I couldn’t do anything. I wish I could have stopped them.”

<A solitary female Andalite would have been no match for more than one or two Hork-Bajir at most,> Ax pointed out. <Your human body has no natural defenses. You would have been cut down immediately.>

“Gee, thanks,” I muttered.

“I think Ax means you shouldn’t feel bad,” Cassie said. “There was nothing you could do.”

The forest was almost black by now; the sun had completely set, and the dim glow of the cube was the only light we had. Then suddenly, a brighter light flicked on a couple feet in front of me. Marco held up his cell phone.

“Flashlight,” he said. “Don’t even imagine a world without smartphones.”

I glanced at Jake. The clean, white light from Marco’s phone threw odd shadows across his face, making him look oddly sinister.

“You’ll help me, right?” I asked.

Jake sighed.

“If the Yeerks captured your Andalite friend,” he said, “then yeah, we’ll do what we can to get her back. There’s only one place they’d take her.”

“Don’t say it, man,” Marco warned. “Don’t say the Yeerk pool.”

I didn’t miss how they all looked slightly sick, like there was some bad memory they were reliving.

Me, I was totally confused. But then again, Esthra had been my sole source of information on Yeerks, and even then she had obviously skimmed over the basics.

<It is the most logical conclusion,> Ax agreed. <But can we afford to delay a rescue?>

I gestured at him. “What he said. We can’t leave Esthra there overnight. They’ll take over her mind, like they did with that other Andalite.”

“No, they won’t,” Cassie said.

“What? Why not?”

“Well, they will. But not yet.” When I raised my eyebrows at her, she added, “Visser Three thinks we’re Andalites. He wants all of us alive, as hosts for his lieutenants. You think an Andalite body would go to any old Yeerk? No way. They’ll fly in someone big. Someone who owes him.”

That didn’t make me feel much better either, except as a reminder that we still had some time. I didn’t like the idea of her being in there any longer than she had to be, but it was better than being a Controller. Even if the idea of her body being ‘valuable’ to the Yeerks really creeped me out.

A second of hesitation, then I held out the morphing cube. Cassie took it and held it up with both hands, squinting at it in the dark.

“It’s heavier than I thought it’d be,” she said. “And there’s weird writing on it. I don’t remember that.”

“We’ll have time to look at the cube and make plans tomorrow,” Jake continued. He checked his watch. “But right now, I gotta get home.”

“Me too,” Cassie said. “My parents will start actually noticing the world around them in about twenty minutes. I have to be home or I’ll be in trouble.”

Marco shrugged. “My dad’s not home for another two hours, but I’m cool. I can cruise for a burger.”

“Wait-- “ I said as Jake and Marco began to morph. “If not tonight, then when?”

“Chill,” Marco replied bluntly. His arms began to elongate into wings, and he had to squint up at me as he shrunk in size. “The Yeerk pool isn’t some place you just gyyuuoohhh…” he stopped as his lips stretched and hardened into a beak.

<Going in without some sort of plan is suicide,> he added in thought-speak. <If we’re dead we can’t help anyone.>

<Marco’s right,> Jake said.

“But…”

<Go home, Courtney, okay? We’ve been doing this longer than you. We’ll figure it out.>

I watched Jake and Marco fly away as owls and tried not to let my frustration show. I knew they were right. But I felt useless, and I didn’t like feeling that way.

<It’s hard, just waiting around,> Tobias said. <But Jake knows what he’s doing.>

“Yeah, well, I’ll try to be a team player and all.” I glanced at the cube Cassie held. “You’ll take care of it, right?”

“Of course. I don’t want the Yeerks getting their hands on it any more than you do.” Cassie checked her watch. “Now I really have to get going. Especially if I have to walk.”

I walked with Cassie, Ax and Tobias back to the broken fence that separated my subdivision from the forest.

“Thanks,” Cassie said as I held the fence back for her to climb through. “Try to act like everything’s normal, okay? Come to school tomorrow. Take the Spanish test.”

I watched her walk to the end of the street and turn right. Then I went back to Tobias and Ax, both of whom hung back in the trees just out of sight.

“Thanks for not kicking my butt for that morphing cube,” I said to Ax.

He blinked at me. His eyes were the same colour as Esthra’s; a brilliant, unnatural green. I hadn’t noticed that before. Now I could see him in the poor light I could tell the differences between them both. He had blue and tan fur instead of purple and blue. He was bigger, too. Taller and wider.

<How did this Esthra come to be here?> he asked.

“All I know is she crashed a spaceship and escaped from it. Apart from that she hasn’t really talked about it.” I shrugged. “She has this way of making it seem like she’s told you a lot, but it’s not really that much.”

<That does sound like an Andalite,> Tobias laughed. <No offense, Ax.>

<There is a specific reason,> Ax said defensively. <My people have laws. One of which your friend seems to have violated.>

“Whoever gave you guys the morphing power broke the same law,” I pointed out. “Me, I’m not complaining. I get a chance to fight, and I’m willing to help however I can.”

<Be careful what you wish for,> Tobias said quietly.

I looked up at him; at the fierce beak, the brown wings, and felt a shiver run down my spine.


	10. Chapter 10

**MARCO**

 

School. Or as I like to call it, purgatory.

Imagine kids dragging themselves off the bus and shuffling in through the doors like the walking dead. Teachers downing coffee and looking like they’d rather be anywhere else. The place may as well have a big sign that says _ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE_.

Me, I was only slightly less awake than usual, and on every other day I’d be ready to survive the last few hours before freedom. Except this weekend my plans were basically a) rescue a blue centaur alien on an insane suicide mission and b) try not to have nightmares about it for the rest of the year. That’s on top of the ones I already have from our last trip to the Yeerk pool.

“So,” Erek said. “New Animorph, huh?”

First thing I did when I got home after talking to Courtney was call Erek King. He was a friend of mine before he transferred schools over a year ago. I thought he was a normal kid too. Turns out he’s an android, created by an ancient race called the Pemalites. They named their creations the Chee.

You’re probably thinking Star Wars and C-3PO, but think again. He looks like a kid my age, but it’s an illusion. A hologram he projects to appear like a kid, but he’s old enough to have seen the pyramids in Egypt. He helped build one of them, too. He and the other Chee help us out sometimes.

See how insane my life has become? This is just routine now. Talk to robots, fight alien slugs. No big deal.

Erek snagged Jake and I before we went to class, saying he had ‘something big’ to tell us. Too bad we already beat him to the punch.

“Maybe,” I said, and switched my backpack to my other shoulder. “She had a morphing cube. She wants us to help out her Andalite buddy.”

Erek nodded. He was in his actual body, a steel-and-ivory robot, with his hologram projected around us to make sure we weren’t overheard.

“One of the other Chee reports there was an Andalite brought to the main facility last night,” he said. “She’s being kept in a cage in the middle of the Taxxon tunnels. Visser Three’s not taking any chances. She’s chained up, guarded twenty-four seven.”

“Great,” I muttered.

“It’s not _all_ bad news,” Erek said lightly. “Visser Four is flying in tomorrow afternoon to take her as a host. You have time to go in and get her.”

Jake nodded. He had that look in his eyes he gets when he’s trying to run through a plan in his head. “Any advice?”

“Apart from don’t get caught?” Erek said dryly. “Expect a trap. Visser Four’s a lot more cunning than Visser Three.”

“Why aren’t you in school, anyway?” I said. “You playing hooky?”

He grinned. “My “father” wrote me a sick note. Even I could use some free time once in a while.”

“Guess when you’re going through school for the thousandth time, you don’t have to worry about bad grades, huh?”

“Exactly.”

The air shimmered and suddenly Erek the boy was back. The sounds of kids and bus engines returned to full volume.

“I gotta go,” Erek said. “No school means a McDonald’s breakfast with my name on it. Good luck.”

We watched him walk away. Then I turned to Jake. “So, oh great leader. What do we do?”

“We go in,” Jake said grimly. “But first, we meet up after school. I’ll let Cassie know.”

“Are we gonna invite Courtney or what?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Jake smiled. “You can tell her.”

I gave him the fish eye. “Why do _I_ have to tell her?”

Jake just grinned and walked away. Any excuse to talk to Cassie, I guess. Lame.

Courtney’s locker is a couple rows down from mine, so I could see when she finally showed up a couple minutes before the first bell.

Honestly, I didn’t expect her to actually show up to school today. But that’s me, and I don’t trust anyone I don’t already know.

She looked even less awake than I did. She didn’t even look up until I tapped her locker door while she was trying to open it.

“Yo.”

She jumped about a foot in the air and said a word I won’t repeat. “What?”

“Cassie’s place, after school,” I said. “We’re making plans for the weekend.”

Courtney looked confused. “Why are you inviting me to your weekend plans?”

She took a couple textbooks from her locker, shut the door and leaned against it. Then she raised her eyebrows. “Oh, wait. Are we talking about--”

“Uh-uh.” I held up a hand, cutting her off. “First rule of fight club: we don’t talk about it here.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah okay, Tyler Durden. I get it. I’ll be there.”

“Wait,” I said, as she turned to leave. “You haven’t heard from your friend at all?”

Courtney’s face fell. She shook her head. “No. I keep hoping she’ll just show up, but that would be a bad thing, right?”

“Definitely.”

There was an awkward silence. Then--

BRRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!

“Remember, after school,” I said. I walked away, leaving her standing at her locker, looking like she was going to cry.

I guess that was pretty cold of me; she was obviously worried about her friend.

And I understood. I felt bad for her and her buddy. But I had bigger things to worry about-- like the upcoming mission. The Yeerk pool is not a fun ride for anyone. That, and we had taken a chance with this kid and hoped it would work out. We could be heading into a trap.

No guarantees. Slim chance of success. A totally insane, practically spur-of-the-moment mission that could end up going sideways.

In other words, a job for the Animorphs. Idiot teenagers with a death wish, like always.

* * *

“Rachel’s gonna love this,” I said.

Rachel did not love this. Rachel was sitting on the gate of an empty stall, arms crossed, glaring at me. The others were spread out across the barn, sitting on hay bales and leaning against stalls, except Tobias, who had gone to check a potential entrance to the Yeerk pool. Even Ax was here in his own body. And then there was Courtney, sitting on a hay bale twisting a lock of hair around her finger.

It was so _weird_ seeing an extra person in the barn.

“I can’t believe you guys went recruiting without me,” Rachel groused. “It’s like something I would do.”

“Family dinner didn’t go so well, huh?” Cassie said, grinning.

“An earthquake in my house would have been easier to deal with.” Rachel made a face. “Then I get to school this morning and Cassie says ‘oh by the way, we’re going on a rescue mission tomorrow.’ Like you couldn’t talk to me about it first.”

“I’m sorry, am I hearing right? Xena isn’t totally down for a trip to the Yeerk pool?”

Rachel gave me a withering look. “Only a moron would be all gung-ho for _that_.”

“We need a plan,” Jake said. “Going back there is crazy, but…”

We all looked at each other, then at Courtney. For once we were all thinking the same thing. Was it worth the risk of taking her with us? How could we be sure the Yeerks hadn’t already gotten to her?

<Tobias and I have been watching her since last night,> Ax said, leaving Courtney out of his thought-speak. <By tomorrow, it will be almost three days. So far there is nothing to suggest she has been made a Controller.>

 _But what if it was before that?_ I wanted to say. She could have been left behind to lure us into a trap. Or maybe she was a Controller even before she met her Andalite friend. She could have been the one to turn her in. All we had was her word.

See what paranoia does? It eats at you, every hour of every day. It hollows you inside out so there’s nothing left to feed on but fear.

Jake turned to Courtney. “How much did Esthra tell you about the Yeerks?”

She brushed the hay off her lap and frowned. “She told me they’re parasites that invade people’s minds. She also said they’re, and I quote, an ‘insidious plague upon the galaxy.’”

Rachel smirked. “Sounds like something Ax would say.”

We all looked at Ax and grinned.

“Anyway,” Jake added, “Every three days they have to return to the Yeerk pool to feed. We’re taking a big risk here, trusting that you’re not a Controller.”

“Well you wouldn’t know, would you?”

“You know, that’s not helping,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Courtney shrugged. “What do you want me to say? If I start talking about how I’m totally _not_ a Yeerk, wouldn’t that just make me sound like a Controller trying to cover my butt?”

It was at that moment Tobias shot through the open barn door and landed on the rafter over our heads.

<I found an entrance,> he said. <Well, actually, I found it a few weeks ago, but they’re still using it.> Privately he added, <What are we doing about Courtney?>

Jake’s eyes flicked to Cassie. Then he said, “Courtney’s coming with us.”

Cassie stood up, her eyes blazing. “You can’t be serious. Did you forget what happened to us the first time we went to the Yeerk pool? What it did to our heads?”

“I want to go,” Courtney said.

Her voice was perfectly steady. She wasn’t afraid.

She didn’t know what she was getting into.

I laughed. “Great. You can be the Gabrielle to Rachel’s Xena.”

Courtney and Rachel looked at each other, then at me. I swear they had the exact same expression.

Jake stood up and folded his arms. He had a look on his face, too. The one where he’s about to get serious.

“If you come along,” he said to Courtney, “you follow my orders.”

“Okay. Understood.”

“And if you--” Rachel began, but Cassie put a hand on her arm and shook her head slightly.

“So, what’s the plan?” Courtney asked. She stood up and stretched, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “We go in, get Esthra and get out? Can we do it now?”

“No way.” I tapped my watch. “Ticktock. My dad is expecting me at five o’clock today.”

<We have time,> Ax said. <Did Erek not say Visser Four would not be arriving until tomorrow afternoon?>

“We should go now," Rachel said. Like that was a surprise. “Let’s just get it over with.”

Jake shook his head. “Tomorrow’s a Saturday. We can do it in the morning. We’ve got to be prepared.”

“Speaking of being prepared,” Cassie said, and turned to Courtney. “Are you up for a trip to The Gardens?”


	11. Chapter 11

**COURTNEY**

The Gardens is a zoo and theme park not far from where I live. It’s actually pretty cool, one of those places you can go to whether you’re a kid or an adult and find something fun to do. There’s rides, great food, animal habitats--

Oh. _Animal_ habitats.

“You have no morphs,” Jake said. “If you want to go to the Yeerk pool with us, you need something that can fight. Something with teeth and claws.”

I spread my hands. “Okay, but...I’m kind of broke. I spent all my allowance for parts on that transponder.”

Cassie went to a large cage resting against the wall.

“That’s where this guy comes in,” she said.

There was a hawk sitting on one of the perches. It was a lot smaller than Tobias, with greyish feathers and bright orange-red eyes.

“Cute,” I said.

“This is a Cooper’s hawk. They’re fast, agile. You should have a bird of prey morph like the rest of us.”

<A hawk morph is good,> Tobias said. <But if you want a trip to The Gardens, it should probably be at night. You’ll want an owl.>

“That’s a good point.” Cassie went to another cage, one with a cloth over it. “We just so happen to have one of those, too.”

“Will it bite me?” I asked nervously.

She shrugged. “They might. You can never know with wild animals.”

“You’re so reassuring. I love it.”

Cassie laughed and reached for a pair of thick gloves hanging on a hook by the cage.

“This girl ate some poisoned meat left out in her territory,” she said. “She’s almost ready to go home.”

She held the owl while I acquired it. Then I acquired the Cooper’s hawk.

“So, what now?”

“Now you morph,” Marco said. “Duh.”

Okay. Now I morph. No big deal.

I began to pull my sweater off, and I swear Jake and Marco’s eyes almost bugged out of their heads.

“Um--”

“Relax,” I said. “Cassie told me to bring something skintight. I changed at recess.” Like I was really going to strip it all off right there.

“Now you concentrate,” Cassie said, when I’d removed my outer clothing and stuffed it in my backpack. “Picture the hawk in your mind. Imagine soaring on those wings. Imagine the talons and the beak.”

I felt like the world’s biggest dork, standing in the middle of that barn while four kids, a hawk and an alien watched me. Still, I tried to concentrate on the image of the Cooper’s hawk. Having it staring at me from its cage helped too, I guess.

I looked down at my hands, trying to imagine them as wings, when my fingers began to -- well, I don’t know how to describe it. They made a grinding sound and began to flatten and stretch, like they were rubber.

“Eeek!” I said. I couldn’t help it. I felt the hysterical scream force its way up my windpipe and swallowed it hard, so it came out as a little squeak.

<Gross,> Tobias said helpfully.

A greyish pattern began to appear on my hands. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to block out the gory sight, but I couldn’t block out the feeling of my muscles and bones stretching and twisting and grinding.

“This is so weeeirrr--”

My lips bulged out, cutting off the rest of my sentence. I tried to touch them with my wing-hands, but they no longer bent the way they were supposed to. When I opened my eyes again my eye level was about where my knees would have been, and I was still shrinking.

Oh, and I could see _everything_.

Individual pieces of hay on the floor. Little ants crawling up the wooden posts. Legs like small trees around me. The barn was alive in ways I couldn’t imagine as a human--and I could hear things. The scrape of clawed feet on metal. The wind whistling through the rafters. Things I wouldn’t really pay attention to as a human spelled ‘prey’ to my hawk mind.

“Is she done?” said a voice from somewhere up above.

Meaningless sounds. The hawk didn’t care about humans. They weren’t prey. The hawk wanted to hunt. It wanted to be outside in the open air.

I spread my wings wide.

“Uh-oh, she’s going take off. Get her!”

The tree trunk legs moved. The ground vibrated. Then -- a grip behind my shoulders. Pressing my wings down, trapping my talons. Pinning me!

I turned my head, eyes wide, beak open, chest puffed up. I would have spread my wings, but they were trapped.

“That is some serious fish-eye,” said another voice, and laughed.

“Get a grip, Courtney,” another voice said.

_Courtney?_

It came back to me in a flash. _I_ was Courtney.

Cassie held me with both hands, pinning my wings and legs so I couldn’t fly. The others were watching. They all looked highly amused.

<Um,> I said. <Hi.>

“Hi,” Rachel said. She was grinning. “Welcome back.”

<Sorry.>

“Don’t be,” Jake said, though he still had a slight grin. “The first time morphing is always the hardest. The animal’s mind, its instincts...they can overwhelm you if you’re not careful.”

Cassie gave me a little toss into the air and my wings opened of their own accord. I flapped, swooped back around and landed on her outstretched arm.

<So,> I said. <What’s next?>

<Next,> Tobias said, <you get some firepower.>

* * *

I thought I could see everything as a Cooper’s hawk. Turns out I was mostly wrong. Owls rule the night. Even flying over suburbs instead of forest, I could see detail my human eyes would have missed in broad daylight.

I turned my head and spotted a squirrel darting across somebody’s back fence. I could adjust my flight. Dive down, talons out, ready to grab its neck, ready to squeeze--

<No!>

<No what?> Cassie asked. She was about fifty feet away in the same owl morph. Ax was in owl morph too, the same distance away on my right. Everyone else had gone home a few hours ago. I went to Friday night _ma’ariv_ and ate dinner and tried to act like I hadn’t just turned into a bird for the first time ever. When it was late and my parents were asleep I had to sneak out and meet up with Cassie and Ax.

<Just dealing with the animal brain. It’s like I have two minds.>

<You’ll learn to control it better with practice and experience,> Cassie replied. <That’s all it is.>

Ax said nothing. He hadn’t spoken since we left, and I had the feeling he was only here to back up Cassie if I tried something.

I’m not dumb; I knew he didn’t trust me. None of them did, not even Tobias. It was hard not to take that personally, but I had been dropped into the middle of their secret galactic war and all. I was the new kid in the group. I had to earn their trust. But if they helped me save Esthra, I would pretty much do whatever they wanted.

Thinking of Esthra sobered my mood really quick, and suddenly flying didn’t seem so fun.

<We’re here,> Cassie said. She folded her wings and dropped, then headed downwards in a wide swoop. We passed over The Gardens entrance gate, then landed on the roof of the main building.

“What about security?” I asked after we’d demorphed. “Don’t these places have CCTV? Guards and stuff?”

“We shouldn’t have a problem unless we literally run into them,” Cassie said. “Besides, that’s what we have Ax for.”

I stole a glance at Ax, who had morphed back to his regular body. “We’re not going to just kill people doing their jobs, are we?”

<I am perfectly capable of incapacitating a human without the need to take their life,> Ax said calmly.

We took a service elevator down from the roof, which opened into a clean, white hallway.

Cassie took a right and led us down a passage with numbered doors set into the wall. I guess she’d been here before with her mom.

“Why are the lights on?” I wondered, glancing around. The place was obviously empty, and dead silent except for Ax’s hooves clopping on the concrete floor.

Cassie shrugged. “I’ve never been in the main building this late at night. Could be sensors, or something.”

I tried to remember what kind of animals they had in this place. Leopards, dolphins, elephants. Gorillas? Big cats? I hadn’t even really thought about the kind of morph I would pick yet. To be honest, I hadn’t really stopped to think about anything since yesterday. It was easier to pretend I was okay than to actually think about what was going to happen to Esthra, or to me.

Cassie stopped at the last door and turned to me. “How do you feel about mountain lions?”

It took me a moment to get it. “You mean for morphing?”

Cassie pushed open the door. A rush of air and we were suddenly outside in the dark.

This was the area for the bigger animal habitats. I recognized it even at night. It was weird to see it completely empty except for a couple floodlights here and there.

“They’re not very big,” Cassie said, and gestured for us to follow down a packed dirt path. “Not like tigers or lions. But they’re agile and they can do some damage. Perfect for a battle morph.”

“Sure.”

She gave me the side eye for a second, then glanced at Ax. “Is anyone coming?”

<No,> Ax replied. His stalk eyes twisted left and right. <My vision is reduced at night, but I can see well enough.>

We walked in silence for a couple minutes, with our bare feet stepping on the gravel and Ax bringing up the rear.

“You must really want to save your friend,” Cassie said casually, when the silence began to turn awkward. “You’ve been cool about this. I knew you were chill, but this is a lot to handle.”

“I’m doing okay,” I lied.

Cassie gave me another glance.

See, here’s one thing I knew about her: she was good at reading emotions. Judging how people felt, what their angle was. I didn’t want her to do that to me. I didn’t want her to see right through me, to unravel that tangle of emotions I had in my chest. I needed to be okay if I was to save Esthra.

Cassie stopped in front of a wire fence that stretched away into the darkness and up high above our heads. I couldn’t see much in the habitat. Trees, rocks, a little stream of water. High grass that rustled in the wind.

Then she came slinking out of the grass.

“This is Rita.”

She was beautiful: tawny fur, round eyes, long twitching tail. She was a lot smaller than I’d imagined, but that was okay. I knew they could do some damage.

“Where’s the other ones?”

“Around,” Cassie said. “Probably in the grass or the rocks. You’re lucky. It looks like we won’t have to go into the habitat itself. Not if she hangs around.”

Rita made a little chirrup sound and rubbed her big head against the wire fence, then flopped in the dirt. She reminded me of my cat Rosita.

I crouched down and laid a hand on her flank. Her ears flicked and she gave me a curious look, but she didn’t budge.

“Thanks,” I whispered as she went still and quiet. This mountain lion was going to help me save Esthra.


	12. Chapter 12

**AX**

 

<This is it,> Tobias said.

It was Saturday, as my human friends call it. The beginning of their two day respite from school, a time for them to reflect on their lessons. And more importantly, as Marco says, to ‘party’.

<I should be sleeping in,> Marco grumbled. <Instead I’m cruising to a car wash getting ready to rescue Scorpion-girl from the evil Yeerk Empire.>

<Sounds like a bad comic book, doesn’t it?> Rachel said brightly.

<You are _way_ too happy in the mornings. You know that? >

I let my human friends’ conversation wash over me. I knew they would often make jokes before a mission, in an effort to distract themselves.

Normally I would attempt to participate. Today I was distracted with the thought of what awaited us-- and with a fellow Andalite’s life, or worse, on the line. Even if this mission were not of the utmost importance, I would be a fool to underestimate the danger we were heading into.

I glanced to my left and spotted Courtney in her Cooper’s hawk morph, floating close by at forty feet. So far, this human had given me no cause to suspect she was anything other than what she appeared to be. She had complied with Jake’s instructions without protest, and had given up the Escafil device. Tobias and I had watched her day and night for nearly three days, and she had not shown signs of Kandrona starvation.

But even as my human friends were beginning to show trust in her, I could not.

The Yeerk pool entrance was at a facility called a car wash, a primitive machine built for cleansing transportation vehicles. Another building stood on the same square block of land, with a large plastic sign reading ‘Arco’. Below it was a list of numbers on a digital interface. Between the building and the signs were what looked like pumping mechanisms.

<I spotted this entrance about a month ago,> Tobias said. <The gas station is run by Controllers, so I had to be careful. But I found there’s a janitor’s closet inside the car wash building itself. I saw a couple people go in and never come out.>

<Like the school’s old Yeerk pool entrance?> Jake asked.

<Wait,> Courtney interrupted. <There’s more than one entrance? How big is this place?>

<It is difficult to determine,> I said. <An estimate would perhaps be two thirds the size of your city.>

<What?>

This came as no surprise to the others; they had seen the size of the caverns the Yeerks had constructed. Courtney had not.

We demorphed in an abandoned building across the road from the pool entrance. I then morphed into a human--a morph I previously acquired using DNA from Jake, Rachel, Cassie and Marco.

Courtney gave a resigned sigh. “I didn’t really want to morph a roach.”

“Having second thoughts?” Marco said, smirking.

“Nah. Just not a fan of bugs.”

Morphing an insect is never a pleasant experience. Even though I had seen my friends morph many times, I could never become used to it. Not even an _estreen_ such as Cassie could make the process look visually pleasing.

Jake, Rachel and Cassie morphed flies. Tobias, Marco and Courtney were cockroaches.

I laid my hand on the ground and felt a tickling sensation as the others crawled and flew onto my arm. They would cling to my minimal clothing and my skin, and I would carry them across the road.

<Is everyone on?> Jake asked.

I counted. One, two, three, four, five…then I saw the cockroach scuttling across a plank of wood in front of me. Quickly I bent down and clapped my hand over the insect.

<AHHH!>

<Courtney?> Cassie said. <What’s wrong?>

<Something has me!>

I lifted the cockroach, holding her gingerly between finger and thumb. “It is me, Aximili.”

<Oh,> Courtney said, embarrassed. <Ugh, I want to step on myself. I feel so _gross_. >

 

The car wash was located approximately fifty feet from the abandoned building. Between the two buildings was a road.

Many vehicles drove back and forth across this road. Getting across would not be easy, and I did not want to be struck. That would be highly unpleasant.

And possibly fatal.

<What are you doing?> Jake asked, after a minute had passed.

“I am attempting to cross the road, Prince Jake.”

<Just cross at the lights. Getting hit by a car is not fun.> He paused, then added, <Not as a fly, anyway.>

<How do you guys even hear what he’s saying?> Courtney wondered. <All I hear is wind.>

<Try to feel the vibrations under your feet,> Tobias said.

<My disgusting little feet.>

<We’re all gross right now, man. Don’t sweat it.>

The vehicles slowed and came to a halt, and I began to cross the road.

It was difficult to balance and walk quickly at the same time. I had not yet fully grasped balancing without four legs and my tail. The hard material on the road was painful for my sensitive human feet, and I had to take care not to dislodge the others from their various positions on my arm.

Nevertheless I made the trip successfully, just as the vehicles began to move again.

“I have arrived at the vehicle cleanser,” I announced.

<You can just call it a car wash,> Marco said. <You know, like a normal person.>

“I am not a normal person. Norrrr-mal-uh. I am an Andalite.”

<You should be standing right in front of the machine,> Tobias said. <See the machines? They have blue brushes on them.>

I began to move towards the building. There was a hollow tunnel of sorts, wide enough for a standard Earth vehicle to drive through. Large machines lined the sides of each wall, topped by cylindrical brushes as Tobias described, and coloured in an ugly shade of blue.

There were no vehicles inside. The only humans around were not close enough to notice as I slipped past the neon monstrosities. And as Tobias said, there was a door set into the wall on my left. Beyond was a small room, used for maintenance technicians to store their equipment. This room was empty, and its shelves bare. Along the far wall were a variety of metal hooks.

The door shut behind me, throwing the room into complete darkness.

“It is safe to demorph,” I said.

The others crawled and jumped from my arm and began to demorph, as did I. Within minutes we became five humans, a hawk and an Andalite standing uncomfortably close together.

<Whoever’s at the far wall, turn the topmost right hook to the left and pull out the shelf,> Tobias said.

“Ow!” Rachel hissed. “Who kneed me in the butt? Cassie?”

“Sorry.”

There was a faint hissing sound, like a vacuum disengaging. Then the far wall swung inwards, revealing stairs that descended into darkness.

The sealed door must have been used to block out noise, for immediately my ears filled with faint cries.

“Can you hear that?” Courtney whispered.

“Yeah,” Jake replied grimly. “Look. You’re going to see and hear terrible things in the next few minutes. But I need you to deal with it, okay?” Without waiting for a response he turned to me. “Ax, do you remember where to go?”

<Yes, Prince Jake.>

I had the opportunity to study a map of the Yeerk pool courtesy of the Chee, obtained last night after the trip to The Gardens. The Andalite was being held in a room surrounded by Taxxon tunnels, under heavy guard. The tunnels spread in a complex network across the entire cavern. The nearest was in the wall mere feet away; a vast hole like an infected wound.

“Alright, everyone,” Jake said. “Into the tunnel. Battle morphs, let’s go.”

As one, my human friends turned to look at the crude dirt tunnel. Even from here we could smell the stench of rotting meat.

“Tell me you’re kidding,” Marco said.

<This is the most effective way to find this Andalite,> I said. <The Yeerks will almost certainly be expecting a rescue attempt. They are unlikely to follow us into these tunnels, for fear of running afoul of Taxxons.> I paused, then added, <And for the smell.>

My human friends did not look pleased at this information.

I led them through the tunnel, deeper and deeper into the Yeerk pool. When we reached the first junction we stopped to allow the others to finish their morphs.

Only Courtney had not changed.

<You have a battle morph, don’t you?> Jake said. He was already in tiger morph, his yellow eyes glinting in the dark. The others had morphed as well: Rachel into grizzly, Marco a gorilla, Cassie a wolf. Tobias had morphed a Hork-Bajir. Specifically the Hork-Bajir Jara Hamee, who we had rescued recently.

“Yeah,” Courtney said. She appeared distracted. “But I keep hearing…”

Without warning she turned and brushed past me.

<What are you doing?> Jake demanded, but she vanished into the tunnel to our right. The one that led to a wall high above the cavern, and a fatal drop for a human.

< _Seriously?!_ > Rachel yelled. <Come _on_. >

I followed Courtney at a fast-paced trot. The tunnel was wide, but not wide enough to overtake her. I could only hope she would see the danger of falling from a dirt tunnel a hundred feet above the ground.

Courtney stopped just short of the tunnel opening and stared at the massive cavern below. I did not have to be closer to know what she saw: a vast lake with two steel piers built over the grey sludge. Several buildings at the far end of the cavern; places I knew held facilities for human hosts and Vissers. Everywhere there were Controllers-- human, Taxxon and Hork-Bajir. And lining the pool’s edge were cages filled with screaming, crying, begging hosts.

<Courtney,> I said.

She turned to look at me. I am not yet practiced in understanding human facial expressions, but I knew distress when I saw it.

I understood. I sympathized.

And yet, we had a mission to complete.

“Do you know why I wanted to come along?” she asked, her voice cracking.

<No.>

“Esthra gave herself up to the Yeerks for me. She could have told them where I lived, about my family.” She stabbed a finger at the scene below, her face twisting. “She saved me from that. And she was _scared_. I could see it. I can’t let her rot down here. Not after what she did for me.”

I understood that feeling, too. My human friends had saved me many times, often while risking death themselves.

<We are in a very dangerous place,> I said, as she stepped away from the tunnel entrance. <Please do not do that again.>

The others were waiting for us at the junction when we returned.

“I’m sorry,” she said, before Jake could speak. “I needed to see it, not just hear it from other people.”

<And now you know,> Marco said, with no trace of humour in his tone.

“Yes,” Courtney replied, and began to morph. “Now I know.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for violence.

**COURTNEY**

 

I’ve always been a passive person. A little too passive, if I’m being completely honest.

Growing up I’d get picked on a lot, but it never really bothered me. I figured people like that just wanted to drag others down to their level, and they saw me as an easy target. I thought they were sad, but they couldn’t really touch me.

Seeing the Yeerk pool, realizing this was so much _bigger_ than I could have imagined-- that was different. That changed me from the moment I saw what lay in that massive underground cavern. The image of that place will be burned into my mind forever.

The lake of roiling, grey sludge. The buildings that reminded me of my local community center, and completely normal things like construction equipment. People going back and forth like they were just hanging out. Not just Taxxons and Hork-Bajir but humans, too. Regular, everyday people.

And then there were the hosts. Humans and Hork-Bajir caged like animals, begging and crying, or just sitting silently, defeated and hopeless. I wanted to cry just thinking about it--but I couldn’t allow myself to be distracted. I was in mountain lion morph, in the middle of a Taxxon tunnel in almost complete darkness.

<That’s your battle morph?> said Rachel. She still sounded a little mad, and I didn’t really blame her-- the others probably thought I’d just tried to bail on them.

My first instinct was to apologize, but that would have been a lie. I needed to see what was really going on. And now I knew, I could focus on finding Esthra-- and pity any of the filthy slugs who got in my way.

<Mountain lions can do some damage,> Cassie said. <Don’t underestimate them.>

In single file we marched down that tunnel in the dark, hoping we wouldn’t run into Taxxons, or worse.

I mean, I guess the others worried about that. Me, I didn’t care. Every nerve in my body was alive with hate and adrenaline. I wanted to use these teeth and claws; to make the Yeerks hurt for treating us like pigs in a slaughterhouse.

<The tunnel ends ahead,> Ax said after about ten minutes had passed. <If the Chee’s map is correct, the prison should be beyond.>

Without waiting for an invitation I slipped past Jake and Marco so I could see what was beyond the tunnel exit.

Below was a room, maybe a ten foot drop. It looked like the Yeerks had left most of the walls as solid rock, except for a metal door set into the far wall. In the centre was a cage that took up half the available room.

In that cage was an Andalite.

It was Esthra: I recognized her immediately. She was lying on her side with her arms, legs and tail shackled. Even from here I could see the cage was too small and the shackles too tight.

<I’m not exactly a genius,> I said, <but even I can see this is a trap.>

<A trap with an Andalite as bait,> Ax said. He sounded about as angry as I felt. <This is Esthra, yes?>

<Yeah, that’s her. Hey, can anyone pick locks?>

<I can,> Marco said.

The tunnel wasn’t large enough for all of us to stand side by side, so I squashed myself into the slimy wall to let Marco lumber past.

There was a thud as he dropped to the ground. Ax followed, landing lightly on his dainty hooves. I was next. Ten feet is nothing for a mountain lion.

Marco curled his huge fingers around the bars. I could see his muscles straining, then--

Shrrrrrrkkkkk-CRUNCH!

The thick bars bent and popped out of the frame.

<You call that picking locks?>

Esthra’s eyes snapped open. She sat up-- or tried to, with her legs shackled together, and glared icily at him.

< _Yeerk_ ,> she said, her thought-speak voice dripping with disgust. <Why restrain me so tightly? Are you so afraid of a single Andalite?>

BreeeEEEEEEEET! BreeeEEEEEEEET!

An alarm began to wail from deeper inside the cavern.

<Busted,> Rachel said. <Knew this was a trap.>

<Well, duh,> Marco said. <Of course it’s a trap.>

He reached for the shackles. Esthra scooted backwards, her hooves scraping on the metal, and struggled to free her tail.

<Do not touch me!>

<Ooookay. I hear you. Personal space and all.>

<If I may, Prince Jake,> Ax said privately. <She may feel more at ease seeing one of her own people.>

<Don’t call me-- you know what, forget it. Do what you need to do.>

Ax went to the cage. I didn’t miss how he subtly put himself between Marco and Esthra, which in hindsight was probably the smart thing to do. You don’t want to get in the way of a scared Andalite and their way out. Not with that tail.

<My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill,> he said. <We are here to rescue you.>

<But you are young,> Esthra replied, sounding confused. <Were you sent by Prince Ilinix?>

<No.> Now Ax sounded confused. <Your human friend, Courtney, made us aware of your capture.>

BreeeEEEEEEEET! BreeeEEEEEEEET!

The alarm wailed on, but now I could hear shouting--and it was getting louder. Marco bent down and snapped the shackles from Esthra’s legs and tail.

<Thank you,> Esthra said, and began to stand-- then her knees buckled. <Ahh!>

<Just pick her up,> Jake ordered. <Let’s get out of here before the Yeerks show up.>

Marco took a step forward, but Esthra shrugged off his hand and pulled herself up by the bars of the cage. She leaned heavily on them; sides heaving, legs trembling.

<I am an Andalite,> she said eventually, with an impressive amount of dignity. <I do not require manhandling.>

<Alright,> Jake said. <We have maybe ten more seconds before this gets ugly. Esthra? Can you run? Or more importantly, can you fight?>

<I can do both.>

The only door in the room opened and Hork-Bajir and human-Controllers began to rush in.

Esthra accepted Marco’s help climbing from the cage. That was my cue to step forward.

<Hi,> I said privately. <It’s me. I mean, it’s me, Courtney.>

<Courtney,> Esthra said. It almost sounded like a question.

<Uh, yeah.> I gave her the side eye. <Did you forget who I was or something?>

Esthra gave a little shake of her head. <No, of course not. But we do not have time to talk now.> She indicated the weapons some of the Controllers held. <Dracon beams. You will want to avoid being shot by those.>

<Gee, you think?>

The Yeerks were advancing, blades and Dracon beams at the ready.

My ears flattened against my skull. I drew my lips back, exposing my teeth, and a growl began to rumble in my throat.

The human part of me was cowering in fear. The mountain lion knew it had to fight.

“ _Filshig_ Andalite!”

A Hork-Bajir lunged for me, blades whirling-- missed!

My jaws clamped around his leg. I bit deep.

“Rrrrraaaaghh!”

Fights exploded around me. I saw a flash of Marco plowing through the fray, sending Controllers flying as he swung his fists. Rachel bellowed and swiped and tore at anything that stood in her way. Cassie lunged, darted back and lunged again, her muzzle dripping red. All the while there were people screaming in pain and terror.

“Ahhhh! Foul _hruthin gafrash!_ ”

<Get him off me! Get him off me!>

Tseeeeeew! Tseeeeeew!

Sparks flew as Dracon beams glanced off the walls. For several minutes pandemonium reigned.

I _could_ hear the cacophony around me. At least, my brain processed it and set it aside as unimportant. My focus was on tearing my way through the Controllers that rushed to attack; humans and Hork-Bajir alike.

If you’ve ever seen a mountain lion on the attack, you’d understand. They’re not big and heavy like lions or tigers, but they’re fast, and they can take down prey twice their size.

Not to mention I wasn’t just any mountain lion. I was a mountain lion with a human brain in a murderous rage.

I don’t know if I _actually_ killed any of them. I guess I don’t really want to know.

<Fall back!> Jake shouted. <Into the tunnel!>

We circled back around the cage, letting the Controllers drive us back towards the tunnels. Back into the stinking darkness, with the brave few Hork-Bajir Controllers who didn’t fear the Taxxons.

“Ssssssrreeeewaaarrr!”  
  
<Courtney, watch out!>

WHAM!

I hit the dirt, stunned senseless. It took me a few seconds to realize something had slammed into me with enough force to knock me over.

A Taxxon, looming above me, so monstrously huge it filled my entire view.

 _Not bad for a giant centipede_ , I thought stupidly.

Do you ever have this moment when you feel like time has slowed down? That’s how it was lying on the ground after the Taxxon body-slammed me. I could still hear sounds of battle to my right; stomping footsteps and roars.

<Courtney! Courtney!>

Esthra was yelling my name. She was still fighting, even after she’d been in that cage for two days. Was I really going to just lie down and die? After all it had taken to get me here?

The Taxxon’s mouth came down, teeth gnashing. I kicked upwards with all the strength I had left, claws out.

The creature broke open like a water balloon. I was covered in entrails and vile goo, screaming in rage, disgust and defiance. Then as more Hork-Bajir came to cut us off I attacked them too.

The Taxxon was easy to kill, once I had the upper hand. The Hork-Bajir were not.

In hindsight it was a dumb thing to do, taking on two seven foot tall monsters in my first battle. My mind had no room left for common sense. Only a sheer will to survive, motivated by pain and fear.

I fought and fought until I realized I was biting and clawing at air instead of flesh, and my back paws were slippery with dirt and gore. I was filthy and panting and there was a terrible silence. The Hork-Bajir were…

Well, I don’t want to describe it. I knew what had happened to them. What I did to them.

I sat down, hard. I must have looked stupid to my friends; they were staring at me. Impossible to tell what they were thinking.

It was Esthra who brushed past them and approached me; this giant, panting, savage creature I was.

We were the same height in my own body, so she had to bend down. She wasn’t comfortable with touch, but she took my big head in her hands.

<Courtney,> she said gently. <Enough.>


	14. Chapter 14

**JAKE**

 

<We need a plan,> Rachel said.

We moved deeper into the Taxxon tunnels and, even though it felt wrong, used the bodies of the Hork-Bajir and Taxxons to block the way we came.

I knew this might happen, and I planned for it. The Yeerk pool was a huge place, but there were a lot of exits. If we couldn’t get out the way we came, that wasn’t a problem.

Getting to the other exits without being seen? That was the issue.

I looked at Courtney. She’d been quiet ever since things got ugly further back in the tunnels. She’d calmed down after Esthra talked to her. Now she was following along, her head hanging.

The thing is, I knew exactly how she felt. We’d all been there. In the middle of a battle you forget the real Yeerks are slugs in their hosts’ brains. Hork-Bajir and humans are just puppets to them-- and in a fight the hosts are the ones who get hurt.

I know Cassie struggles with that a lot. I do too, but I try to hide it. I wanted to give Courtney a break, but we couldn’t stop to let her deal with the things we’d done. Letting her stew would be worse.

Esthra walked by Courtney’s side. She’d been quiet too, though she was probably weak from being stuck in that cage.

<Esthra, how are you holding up?> I asked her.

<I am fine,> she said.

<You were in that cage for two days,> Cassie said. <You must be dehydrated. Hungry.>

<Yes, I am. But it can wait.>

<Does the Yeerk pool even have water that’s not grey and sludgy?> Marco wondered.

Esthra glanced at him with a stalk eye.

<Actually, there are several facilities at most Yeerk pools that provide food and water,> she said. <Yeerks must keep their host bodies in optimum condition.>

I felt a little uneasy. Something about calling people ‘host bodies’ didn’t feel right to me, even if it was an Andalite saying it. Maybe I didn’t like being reminded that we were basically just meat to the Yeerks.

<Did you get the grand tour when you came in?>

<No,> Esthra said, <but I know the Yeerks. I lived among them for several weeks. I was under orders to study them.>

Ax turned all four eyes on her in a sudden show of interest. <You were a spy?>

<Yes.>

I guess it did make sense for the Andalites to put their people in the enemy ranks, like any other military.

<Okay,> Cassie said. <Any ideas?>

We looked at Esthra.

<I am not familiar with this place,> she said, with a slight note of exasperation. <Most of my service was spent aboard the Pool ship orbiting this planet.>

I tried to think about the other times we’d been down here, and the entrances we’d used. There was the dressing rooms at the Gap. The janitor’s closet at school. And--

<The drop shaft! The one we used when the-- >

I stopped suddenly, before I could mention the Ellimist. I don’t know if it was instinct or whatever, but I didn’t really want to explain our dealings with him. < \--when we were here last.>

<Has anyone read _The Art of War?_ > Courtney asked suddenly. It was the first time she’d spoken since we’d left the bodies of those Hork-Bajir behind.

<No,> Rachel said. <What about it?>

<There was a quote in it about cutting off an enemy’s resources. Like food or whatever. Or maybe it was about being unpredictable.> She paused. <Anyway, we should set the cafeteria on fire.>

<A distraction?> Tobias said. <That might work.>

<I can start a pretty decent fire with a bottle of vegetable oil and a gas stove,> Courtney said. She lifted her head, her eyes glinting in the darkness. <If the Yeerks have a fire safety system, even better. Water will make it worse.>

Marco snorted. <I don’t even want to ask how you know that.>

A shudder ran through the tunnel. Clumps fell from the ceiling, showering us in dirt.

<That’s our cue to leave. Lead the way, Aximili.>

Esthra looked at me. So did the others. I’ve only ever called Ax by his full name once before, and that was enough for me. We usually call him Ax instead.

I hoped none of the others would question it. Thankfully, no-one did.

Ax flicked a stalk eye towards me, but I think he got it.

<Yes, my prince.>

We kept walking for what felt like forever. According to Erek’s map, the tunnels went through an entire wall of the cavern, weaving around rock and the buildings the Yeerks constructed, and came out in several places. Assuming the map was accurate, the tunnel we took would finish right next to the cafeteria. Then we would have to fight our way out.

We turned a corner eventually and the tunnel opened up ahead into what looked like another section of the cavern. I stopped, and the others did too.

<Alright,> I said. <Things are going to get messy. Once we step out of this tunnel the Yeerks are going to notice a bunch of wild animals wandering around the place.>

<We should split up,> Rachel said. <Start a fight, draw the guards.>

<Of course you would suggest that, Xena.>

I forced myself not to glance at Esthra, wondering if she’d been included in Marco’s thought-speak. If she had, she hid it well.

<Yeah, that could work.> I nodded my big tiger head. <One Andalite, a mountain lion, a gorilla, a bear and a wolf could make enough distraction and draw the Controllers away from the cafeteria. Which means-- >

<I get to start the fire?> Tobias said. He had a glint in his eye.

<Oh, no fun,> Courtney grumbled. <I was kind of looking forward to burning this place down.>

<You two are seriously disturbing me,> Marco said.

<If I may,> Esthra said. I looked at her, but she didn’t say anything more. Her face had that look Ax sometimes gets when he’s waiting for permission to talk.

<Go ahead.>

<I should come along. Two people may encounter difficulties causing a diversion. A third  may...even the odds. So to speak.>

<Good point.>

<Let’s do it,> Rachel said. Marco groaned.

It didn’t take long for the Yeerks to spot Cassie, Rachel, Marco, Courtney and Ax coming out of the tunnel straight for the guards at the pier.

“Andalites! Andalites!” someone shouted, followed by a lot of running footsteps.

Nobody noticed when a Hork-Bajir, a tiger and an Andalite slipped past them.

The weirdest thing wasn’t the Yeerks having an underground cafeteria. It was that the place looked exactly like the cafeteria at my school.

<Oh man, they have tater tots,> Tobias said to me as we walked past the double boilers. <I haven’t had those in forever.>

<You think Hork-Bajir can eat greasy potato products?>

<Not unless it tastes like bark.>

Esthra walked ahead, eyes up and scanning for danger. She stopped in front of a deep fryer and examined the dials.

<I am unfamiliar with human machinery,> she said, <but I am sure I can learn its functionality quickly.>

<No need,> Tobias said. He turned the dials on the fryer to the highest setting. <That’s oil in those vats. You make it hot enough, it’ll catch fire. That’ll keep them busy.>

<What type of oil?> Esthra asked curiously, glancing at him. <Crude oil? Or some other distillate?>

<I don’t know. Some sort of cooking oil. This is used to fry food.>

<Ah.> She suddenly didn’t sound as enthused. <I do not know much about human technology. It appears adaptable, despite their species being so primitive.>

<Uh-huh.>

We sat in silence waiting for the oil to catch fire. There wasn’t much I could do without hands, anyway.

<Courtney told us you built a transponder,> I said eventually, trying to break the awkward silence. <You tried to contact us.>

<Yes,> Esthra replied. She sounded embarrassed. <I thought you may have established a link with the fleet, or perhaps even the homeworld.>

<You want to go home?>

She looked at me, a little wistfully. <Do we not all wish to go home?>

I couldn’t answer that. I wasn’t an Andalite. But I thought of Ax suddenly and the way he sometimes looked when me and the others were joking and laughing together.

I knew he was as much a part of our group as anyone. But did he? I tried to imagine being alone on a strange planet, cut off from the rest of my people. It wasn’t a nice thought.

I was spared from answering when there was a whoosh and the oil caught fire.

<Time to go,> Tobias said. <The sprinklers are going to turn on any second and this place will be an inferno.>

<You enjoyed that way too much,> I said as we left the kitchen.

<Yeah,> he laughed. <I really did.>

The shouts and sounds of battle grew louder as we left the cafeteria and headed back to the main area of the pool.

There was Ax, Rachel, Marco, Cassie and Courtney locked in battle with half a dozen Controllers; roaring, running and generally causing as much noise as possible.

Marco was the first to spot us.

<What took you guys so long?!>

“More Andalites!” one of the human-Controllers yelled. He looked like he could work in any of the office towers downtown: nice suit, horn-rimmed glasses, shoes that looked more expensive than my computer.

I charged. He raised a Dracon beam and aimed for me.

“Filthy Andalite,” he sneered.

Too late. I hit him with one shoulder and knocked him flying.

Another bunch of Hork-Bajir joined the fray, and things were getting messy. The others were tiring. They couldn’t keep the pace up for much long.

<Time to go!> I said. <Into the drop shaft. Marco, Ax, Rachel, Cassie. You first.>

Rachel raised up on her hind legs. Her muzzle and paws were dripping, and her fur was matted with dirt and blood.

<I’m okay,> she said. <Let the others go first.>

<You’re bleeding all over the place, Rachel. Go. I got this.>

<Oh man,> Rachel complained. But she turned and loped on all fours back to the drop shaft. Margo staggered after her, clutching his shoulder.

<You too, Esthra.>

Would she follow my orders? I couldn’t be sure, but Andalites were big on having a ‘prince’ to follow.

For a second I thought she’d argue. Then she turned and followed Marco. She was beginning to stagger.

One by one the others broke away from the battle and went for the drop shaft.

Forty feet.

Thirty feet.

Twenty feet. We were going to make it. Then--

<Leaving already, Andalites?>

The Controllers parted like a wave. Then he was _there_ , walking towards us on four dainty hooves.

The only Andalite to ever become a Yeerk host.

Visser Three.


	15. Chapter 15

**COURTNEY**

 

He looked like an Andalite, but I wasn’t fooled. I’d seen him before in the meadow near my house. I’d seen him taunt Esthra, order her captured and taken to this place.

<This is...Visser?> I said, directing my thought-speak to the others. <Is that his name?>

<It’s Visser Three, and it’s his title,> Jake said grimly. <Don’t talk to him, Courtney. Not a word.>

<I wasn’t planning on it,> I muttered.

There was something _evil_ about him. I felt it the last time I saw him, even from all the way back in the trees.

I guess him being a bad guy should be obvious; he is a Yeerk after all. But the other Controllers didn’t scare me like he did. He brought up some kind of raw terror deep inside, like something from my worst nightmare.

<Visser Three!> Ax sneered. He turned and came trotting back, tail poised to strike. Esthra did the same, though a lot slower.

<It seems I have arrived just in time,> the Visser said. <You Andalite fools. Always rushing to save a fellow comrade.>

<A stand-off,> Marco said tersely. <I say we haul butt before the Visser starts morphing.>

<Wait, he can do that too?>

<Trust me, you don’t want to see it.>

As if on cue, Visser Three’s body began to bloat bigger and bigger like a misshapen balloon.

<Time to go,> Jake said, but the Hork-Bajir and humans rushed forward at a shout from Visser Three.

I was exhausted. We all were. But I had to keep fighting, if I wanted to get out alive.

_Tseeeeew! Tseeeeew!_

The Yeerks were firing Dracon beams wildly as they advanced, galvanized by the Visser’s shouted commands. He was a fleshy nightmare; a misshapen blob of blue fur and stubby legs.

_Tseeeeew!_

<AHH!>

My leg gave way and I fell hard; the pain was intensified until my muscles were twitching and cramping.

The jerk who shot me yelled in triumph and aimed again.

Ignoring the agony, I gathered my strength and leaped. Fifteen feet through the air! I hit him in the chest and knocked him to the floor.

Later I found out mountain lions can leap up to thirty feet from a complete standstill. Even with my injured leg, fifteen feet was nothing. As for the Controller, well...being taken out by a hundred-pound cat piledriver couldn’t have felt good. It didn’t kill him...but as I stood on his chest and put my face close to his, I began to see the fear in his eyes.

It would be easy to kill him. I wasn’t as big as a tiger or lion, but I could take down a human if I wanted to. I could rip out his throat. Shred his flesh with my claws.

So easy.

<Withdraw!> the Visser roared. Then suddenly the rest of the Yeerks were backing away behind the bloated mass he had become, leaving me and my Controller.

“Andalite filth,” he spat. “Just do it. Kill me.”

I stepped off him and let him scramble back to his fellow Yeerks.

Maybe it was the wrong thing to do. Maybe the world would have been better off less one Yeerk. Still, there’s a big difference between killing someone who’s trying to kill you and murdering a helpless person you have pinned.

There has to be a line somewhere. Whatever it is, I’m not willing to cross it.

<Do you like this creature, Andalites?> Visser Three said. <It is a natural predator on the Yeerk homeworld.>

My first thought at seeing his morph was Jabba the Hutt, if I’m totally honest. He was a brownish-red blob, with a mouth like a split in the middle and eyes almost buried in slimy rolls of flesh.

Gross.

_BOOM!_

Suddenly the ground shook with a small explosion, and an alarm began to wail somewhere deep inside the cavern.

<What was that?!> Rachel yelled.

Tobias laughed. <That would be the deep fryer.>

Smoke began to filter through the open doors of the cafeteria. I could smell it even from a hundred feet away.

< _You_ ,> the Visser said. The rage that emanated from him was terrifying; only some sort of courage-- or insanity-- kept me from turning tail and running.

He moved forward faster than I’d thought possible, then--

_SCHLOOP!_

A red, slimy tongue shot from his mouth and wrapped itself around Esthra’s chest, wrenching her sideways.

<Ahhhh!>

Ax acted quickly.

_Fwapp!_

<Aaaarghhh!> the Visser screamed.

BOOM!

Another explosion, then a _whoosh_ of hot wind. Whatever Tobias, Jake and Esthra did in the cafeteria, it was working.

<We need to go,> Jake said. <Ax? Put the pressure on him.>

The Visser was demorphing, acid-green blood oozing from his severed tongue. The air was starting to get thick and humid. The smoke stung my sensitive nose.

<You have a choice, Visser,> Ax said. <Would you risk the integrity of the Yeerk pool to capture us?>

By the nervous looks of the Controllers around him, they weren’t so sure he wouldn’t.

“Visser,” one of the humans said tentatively, when a few seconds passed in silence. “If this cavern collapses, we risk exposure…”

<Do not tell me what I already know, fool.>

You could almost see the cogs turning in the Visser’s head. He was back to his Andalite body now, tail poised to strike.

<Go,> he said after a pause, and his thought-speak voice quivered with rage. <When we meet again, you will all suffer a very painful end. I promise you that.>

One by one we backed up to the drop shaft, which was a hollow tube that stretched upwards into darkness.

Marco went first, then Cassie. Then it was my turn.

<Step forward and the gravity will initiate,> Esthra said from behind me. She looked like she was ready to pass out. I could relate.

I did, and Esthra followed after me. With all the weirdness of that day, I think being sucked up a tube back to the surface creeped me out the most.

A few seconds later and we began to slow down. Then the shaft opened and we stepped out into a dark room.

“Andalites!” said a voice from somewhere to my right. “Alert--”

_Whumpf!_

<Good night,> Marco said.

He came ambling out of the darkness. Behind him I caught sight of two Controllers lying crumpled on the floor.

Seconds later Jake, Rachel and Tobias appeared from the drop shaft, sweaty, bleeding and limping.

<Everyone here?> Jake said. <Let’s get out of here before Visser Three changes his mind.>

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the image of human me. Five fingers and toes, brown skin, black hair and all. As I began to demorph I suddenly felt elated.

_We did it._

We went into that nightmare and came out alive, and we rescued Esthra on top of it! I would have danced for the sheer, overwhelming rush of adrenaline if I hadn’t been so beat.

Esthra didn’t seem surprised when I demorphed in front of her, but her eyes nearly fell out of her head when the others began to emerge from their various morphs.

<You are humans!> she said, her stalk eyes stretching upwards. <All of you? But _how?_ >

“We can talk about it later,” Jake said. “Right now, we need to fly. Do you have something with wings?”

* * *

Turned out Esthra did have something with wings. We headed back to the forest, seven birds of prey and one little scrub jay, which she’d apparently acquired on one of her night trips through the forest.

We landed in a meadow a couple miles out from Cassie’s farm. It reminded me a little of the place Esthra was captured from, only smaller.

<Thank you,> Esthra said slowly, after we’d all demorphed. <Thank you for taking me from that place.>

“We’re just glad we got you in time,” Cassie said.

<Yes. If you had not, it would have been… unpleasant.>

Marco snorted. “Yeah, no kidding.”

Esthra closed her main eyes and lifted her face to the sun, though her stalk eyes twisted around to take in the pine trees and blue sky. <Where are we?>

<My meadow,> Tobias said, <but it’s a big forest. Ax can show you better places to settle. Fresh water, good grass. Or so I’m told.>

She looked at him curiously. <You are...a bird of some sort, yes?>

<I’m a _nothlit_. Long story. >

“Speaking of long stories,” Jake said. “How did you end up crashing a Bug fighter on Earth?”

I watched Esthra for her reaction. She seemed to think for a moment.

<That is a long story,> she said, <but I will attempt to summarize. As I said before, I am-- was-- a spy. I had infiltrated the Yeerk pool ship and lived among them for three Earth months, until I was assigned to a priority one project. A Yeerk facility.>

“What kind of facility?”

<A science facility, of some sorts. I am not sure. I was not a high-ranking Yeerk.> Her stalk eyes drooped. <My cover became...compromised. I was forced to steal a ship and escape. Obviously, that did not go entirely to plan.>

As Esthra talked, I couldn’t help but be a little mad. We hadn’t known each other for long, but I’d been trying to help her the best I could. She’d barely told me anything about herself. Some of this stuff I’d never heard before. I mean, a secret project? Living undercover as a spy? It sounded like something out of a James Bond movie.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Marco frowning. Then he squinted up at the sky.

“Jake, I gotta get home,” he said. “I promised my dad I’d watch the game with him today.”

“Soon, Marco,” Jake replied. “So you crashed a Bug fighter and survived. What then?”

<I made my way to what I now know is this forest. Where…>

“Where she bumped into me,” I said brightly. “And it’s been a wild ride from start to finish.”

<You mentioned a Prince Ilinix,> Ax said. Was it my imagination, or was he standing a little defensively? I didn’t know much about Andalite body language.

<Yes. My contact and facilitator.>

“Great story,” Marco said. “Jake, buddy, are we done here? My dad said he’d buy Doritos. Can’t miss the Doritos.”

“The Doritos can wait, Marco,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes. “I want to know what happened next.”

<I asked for Courtney’s help. I built a transponder. I knew of the ‘Andalite bandits’, as Visser Three calls you.> Esthra sighed. <I thought...I assumed Andalite warriors would have established communication with the fleet. Instead...>

“You got captured,” Jake said.

She blinked rapidly. <Yes. I was careless. I put Courtney’s life in danger.>

“Don’t beat yourself up. It wasn’t your fault.”

<Yes, it was,> Esthra replied privately, holding my gaze. <I should not have involved you.>

What could I say to that? I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be on an alien race’s ‘Most Wanted’ list, but I didn’t exactly have a choice.

I wasn’t even really sure where all this sentiment was coming from. Esthra hadn’t been cold exactly, but she had a sort of aloofness about her. She hadn’t really been open with me; that was clear. It hurt a little, but I guess I understood.

“This is all very sweet or whatever,” Marco said, holding up a hand. “But I really have to get home. So unless there’s nothing else, oh fearless leader…?”

“No,” Jake replied. He glanced at Esthra for a second, then shook his head. “Let’s chill for a while. It’s a weekend. It’ll be over before we know it.”

I watched silently as Jake, Marco and Rachel morphed back into birds and left.

I didn’t want to go home. I could pretend like the last two weeks hadn’t really happened, but there was no way I could forget this entire morning. How could I watch TV and play with my cats and look my parents in the eye knowing what I’d seen? What I’d done?

<You okay, Courtney?> Tobias asked.

“No.”

When I realised he, Ax, Esthra and Cassie were looking at me I added, “I killed...sentient beings. They were aliens, with Yeerks in their heads, but they were still _people_.”

<You were defending yourself,> Esthra said quietly. <In a war, you do what you must.>

“So, that’s supposed to make it okay? It’s a war, so that means anything goes?” I turned to Cassie, who looked troubled. “How can you just be okay with it? I can’t. I won’t.”

“Then don’t,” Cassie said fiercely. “I’m not used to it. I’ll never get used to it.”

I let my hands drop.

Ax and Esthra both looked uncomfortable. I guess they didn’t really have these sorts of dilemmas on their homeworld, or maybe they thought this was a human-only problem.

Cassie sighed and ran her hands through her short hair.

“I guess…” she began, then paused. “I guess you take that feeling and put it aside, do what you have to. It's hard, but there's not really an alternative.”

That made sense. I didn't know much about fighting aliens or anything like that, but I knew a thing or two about hard times. And...

 _And you made this choice_ , I reminded myself. _It's time you stick by it._


	16. Chapter 16

**RACHEL**

 

I was running; racing through the forest. Faster and faster, ducking under bushes and leaping over fallen trees. I could barely see the ground below me, but I could smell the damp soil. I couldn’t see the trees except for a faint, silvery outline, but I could hear the forest coming alive around me.

This was _my_ territory, and I ruled it utterly. I was unchallenged. Unafraid.

A shadow passed over me. An owl silhouetted against the moon, wings spread wide. I stopped and looked up. Nose pointed to the sky, I howled.

<Rachel, get a grip,> the owl said.

Oh.

I stopped mid-yell, embarrassed. <Um...sorry. Don’t tell the others, okay?>

<Too late,> said another voice. A rustling sound and another wolf emerged from the darkness. <Way to go. Could you be more of a cliche right now?>

<I said I’m sorry. Jeez. What do you want me to do? Grovel?>

<Ignore her, Marco,> Cassie said good-naturedly. She landed on a tree branch above our heads, turning her head left and right. <Rachel gets cranky without her beauty sleep.>

<I get cranky stomping around the woods at midnight looking for a purple alien centaur,> I grumbled. <Please tell me she’s finally made her move.>

<That’s why I’m here,> Cassie said. <Tobias went to get Courtney. Ax is still tracking Esthra. It’s time to go.>

We took off at a run, Marco in the lead and Cassie gliding silently above us.

<Visser Three must think we were born yesterday,> he complained. <I mean, anyone we can pull out of the Yeerk pool that easy was bound to be a trap.>

<You really think it was that easy?> Cassie asked.

<For once I agree with Marco.>

<Xena? On my side? Surely you jest.>

<It _was_ too easy,> I continued, ignoring him. <No way Visser Three just lets us go without a real fight. He’d rather have the entire place fall down around him than let the ‘Andalite bandits’ get away.>

The forest opened into wide swathes of grass, and there she was: running with purpose, tail held high.

<Tobias and Ax should be here soon,> Cassie said. <Ah-- there’s Jake. Be right back.>

She wheeled away and dropped into the trees. Then as we closed in, a tiger rose from the long grass.

Esthra stopped dead in her tracks. One stalk eye twisted backwards and caught sight of Marco and I closing in.

<Going somewhere?> Jake said.

Esthra considered. Then--

_Fwapp!_

Struck! Her tail blade caught Jake in the shoulder, carving a gash through flesh and muscle. Jake raised a paw the size of a dinner plate and knocked her flat.

<Give it up,> he said. <We know what you really are...Yeerk.>

From the forest came Ax with a red-tailed hawk perched on his thin shoulder. With him was Courtney, wearing her morphing suit. She spotted Esthra on the ground with Jake standing over her and darted forward.

“Hey! What are you doing?!”

Marco leaped, landing in between her and Esthra.

<Uh-uh,> he said. <Wait.>

Esthra climbed slowly to her hooves. She was bleeding from where Jake’s claws left cuts in her flank, but she was also laughing.

<You’re more clever than I thought, human,> she said mockingly.

<Oh, please,> Marco said. <Anyone could tell you were bait. We’re not complete idiots.>

<No.> Esthra’s shoulders slumped. <It seems not. But I was so close. I would have told Visser Three all I knew. The Andalite bandits, human children? I would have been richly rewarded for bringing you to him.>

Courtney was white. “You’ve been a Controller this whole time?”

<Oh, no. Not all this time.> The Andalite sneered. <My host does care for you, Courtney. The thought of turning you into one of ours makes her rage.>

Courtney took a step forward, her face twisted in fury, but Marco shoved her back with his shoulder.

<You can make this easy, or you can make it hard,> Jake said flatly. <If you leave her now, we’ll make your death quick. Or we can hold you until you starve.>

<Die now, or linger in agony,> Ax said. <Your choice.>

Here’s the thing we learned about Yeerks: if the odds are heavily against them, they’ll give up. The Yeerk was in an Andalite body, true, but she was surrounded by a tiger, two wolves and an Andalite who was bigger and stronger than her. That’s a lot of teeth and claws even without Ax’s tail.

She had no hope of getting back to the Yeerk pool without evading us, and now we caught her she had no hope at all.

Esthra gave a small, defeated shrug.

<Kandrona starvation is a hideous death,> she said. <And I would like to be free of the Andalite’s screams.>

She cupped a hand over her ear and turned her head downwards. For a few seconds there was nothing.

Then something grey and slimy began to push its way out of her ear. Courtney made a quiet groan of disgust. I didn’t blame her.

Esthra snatched her hand away and the Yeerk fell to the ground, where it lay squirming. I saw her staring at it, chest rising and falling rapidly. Then--

_Fwapp! Fwapp!_

She cut the squirming slug into pieces, then crushed it under her hoof.

“Esthra!” Courtney said, and shoved Marco out of the way. She threw her arms around Esthra’s shoulders, then just as quickly pulled back. “Sorry. Are you okay?”

<Yes. I believe so.>

Esthra seemed to realize where she was for the first time. She looked at us, and we looked at her. It wasn’t the first time we’d ever seen her, of course, but being a Controller at the time didn’t count.

She looked a little like Ax. She had the same basic appearance: humanoid upper body, thin shoulders, small arms with many-fingered hands; a deer-like lower body and a long, bullwhip tail; two big green eyes and two smaller stalk eyes. But there was definitely something...I don’t know how to describe it. Softer. More feminine.

<Are you hurt?> Esthra asked Jake. <I apologize for attacking you. I was not myself.>

<Don’t worry about it. Tigers can take a lot more punishment than that.>

We began to demorph. Esthra wiped her tail on the grass. She was rubbing her ear, her shoulders hunched. I’ve never been infested by a Yeerk, but I have heard what it’s like. I guessed she was feeling violated. Revolted.

“I can’t believe it,” Courtney said. She was still pale, her hands worrying at her thick hair. “Are you sure you’re okay? You had that _thing_ in your head!”

“That thing was a Yeerk,” I said, glancing at the squashed, slimy thing on the ground. “Gross, huh?”

<You cannot imagine,> Esthra murmured.

“I can.”

We all looked at Jake in surprise.

<Then you know what it is like.>

“Yes,” Jake said. “I do.”

Months ago, Jake had gone through one of the worst ordeals: he had been infested by a Yeerk on a mission gone wrong.

Three days he had been trapped in his own body as a human Controller. He had endured the Yeerk’s taunting, insults, threats and finally his Kandrona starvation.

I got the feeling it still bothered him a lot, but he hadn’t spoken about it since. That’s Jake for you.

<They infested me when I was first taken to the Yeerk pool,> Esthra said quietly. She still had her hand pressed to her ear, legs shifting nervously. <It was Visser Four’s idea. He and Visser Three intended to use me as bait. He suspected the ‘Andalite bandits’ had their own spies.>

Courtney glanced at Jake curiously. She was probably wondering how we figured out exactly when and where we’d known to find Esthra. We hadn’t told her about Erek and the Chee. Not yet, anyway.

“We suspected he would try something like this,” Marco said. “Like I said. He thinks we’re idiots.”

<Clearly he underestimates you,> Esthra agreed. <I do not understand why. He thinks you are Andalites.>

Well, that was a backhanded compliment if I ever heard one.

“Gee, thanks,” I muttered.

She blinked at me. <I do not mean to insult you. The Yeerks clearly believe humans are weak, or they would not be here in force.>

“But Andalites are too dangerous to conquer, right?”

<Yes.>

“You know what-- “ I began, but Jake cut me off with a raised hand.

“It’s too late to argue about this stuff,” he said. “Or too early, I guess. Let’s leave it til the morning.”

“Fine,” I said, crossing my arms. “I could use a few days of sleep. Maybe some coffee.”

“Maybe a Prozac,” Marco said helpfully.

“Hey, Marco? Do you want your butt kicked at one o’clock in the morning?”

Esthra had been listening to this exchange, shifting her weight back and forth between her four legs and twirling her tail. Suddenly she turned and began to walk away without a word; without looking back. We stared after her.

<Prince Jake, should I....?>

“Let her go,” Jake said. “She’ll come around.”


	17. Chapter 17

 

**COURTNEY**

 

“His name was Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul,” Tobias said.

One week since we rescued Esthra from the Yeerk pool. Things had returned to normal; or whatever normal was for us anyway.

I didn’t even remember the rest of that weekend; it passed in a blur of daytime TV and chores, and if my parents noticed I was quiet they didn’t say anything. I guess they figured it was school stuff. I was happy for them to believe it was normal teenager problems. Better than having to lie.

I didn’t hear from Esthra until half the week passed. I figured she needed some space.

Having a Yeerk in your head must have been terrible, even if it was only for a short time. If I was honest, I also felt kind of guilty for not realizing it sooner.

The others were pretty nice about it. Jake had been a Controller for a little while, months ago, and it was only because of Ax that they figured it out.

We all met at the mall on the next weekend, to buy Esthra a donut and test her new human morph. Or her new blended morph, I guess, made from my DNA and the DNA of her previous morph, who had apparently been a Controller. I didn’t know what happened to her and I didn’t really want to know.

We were sitting in the food court in one of those booths in the corner, so we could avoid being overheard. Esthra leaned forward at the name Tobias mentioned, her eyes wide with sudden interest.

“War-Prince Elfangor?” she said.

Marco turned to Ax. “Has everyone on your planet heard of your bro?”

“Of course I have heard of him,” Esthra said, before Ax could answer. “He is a great hero among our people.”

Ax looked ridiculously pleased, even while in the middle of eating a cinnamon bun. Esthra copied him, picking up her donut and smooshing it into her mouth. She closed her eyes and mumbled something.

“Chew your food, girl,” I said, then grimaced. “Jeez, I sound like my mom. Anyway, who is this guy?”

Rachel glanced at Jake, who was in the middle of a massive bite of burger. She rolled her eyes and said, “He’s the guy who gave us the...you know.”

“So it wasn’t Ax?”

Ax shook his head and said something unintelligible.

For a couple minutes we all just watched him and Esthra chew their way through their food, while Tobias caught us up to the present. Meeting an Andalite in the middle of an abandoned construction site, witnessing Visser Three eat the guy-- literally -- the first trip to the Yeerk pool. The things they’d done to the Yeerks so far.

It all sounded like something out of a sci-fi novel, but I was beyond being skeptical at this point. I’d already accepted this was happening, and I couldn’t ignore it.

“You have struck a blow against the Yeerks,” Esthra said finally, when she’d swallowed her mouthful. “I am impressed, truly.” She contemplated the other donut on her plate. “This food is so sweet. It is wonderful. What is it?”

“It’s a donut,” Rachel said.

“What is it comprised of?”

“I don’t know. What’s in a donut? Sugar? Flour? Eggs?”

Esthra smiled. “How fascinating! To create such a thing...of course, my people do not eat. Not like this.”

“We do make a mean Krispy Kreme,” Marco agreed. “So, I have a question. When you were a spy did you ever make an entrance James Bond-style?”

“Marco,” Rachel began.

“Hey, it’s a legit question. I guess you wouldn’t drive a Bentley or whatever, or rescue hot babes. Do you at least get a gun?”

Esthra cast a glance at Courtney, who said, “Don’t worry about him. Marco doesn’t think before he talks. Or at all, I guess.”

Rachel and Cassie snorted into their salads. Even Marco grinned.

“As a matter of fact, I was not always a spy,” Esthra said. “I was recruited into service only recently.”

Ax looked up and swallowed the last of his cinnamon bun. “You were a conscript?”

“Of a sort. I was already assigned to a Dome ship. I hold the rank of _aristh._ ”

“But, how would a...“

Ax paused delicately. There was a sudden tension in the air; I felt it and so did the others.

No idea what an _aristh_ was, but I guessed it was some sort of military rank. I made a mental note to ask her later.

“You are asking me how a female could be assigned to a Dome ship,” she said. She wasn’t angry. She looked kind of tired, like my mom does when my dad makes bad jokes.

“Yes,” Ax replied. He had the grace to look mildly sorry he’d asked.

“Perhaps some day I will tell you.” She seemed to realize we were all staring at her, and blinked. “It is not vital to your mission. It is...personal.”

Jake put up his hands in a ‘peace’ gesture.

“It’s cool,” he said. “I’m not going to order you to tell me everything. We know about Andalite law, and it took a while for Ax to get more comfortable with us. Just know we’re your friends, okay? Doesn’t matter what species you are. What matters is you’re here with us, fighting with us.”

Esthra gave Jake a wide-eyed stare. Then she smiled; a an expression that made her pretty dark eyes seem to light up.

“You are all very surprising,” she said softly, and looked around at us. “We do share a common goal, then.”

“You might not be _safe_ with us,” Cassie said. “Not exactly. But you’ll be free.”

Esthra smiled again. “Yes. I am free.”

 

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! Thank you SO much for the comments and kudos, I really appreciate it.  
> Don't worry, there's more coming...


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